Embracing Change
We are in the hallway, toddlers hang on our hips while our boys ran in circles. We’ve just picked them up from the gym’s care center while attending a group fitness class. It was a place we stood every Tuesday and Thursday – chatting as we walked to our cars. She asks me, “when is it happening?” I reply, “the date isn’t set, but we’ll move in about three weeks.” Without hesitation she responds “I could never move. I hate change.” The conversation ends abruptly as the boys tug on our legs for snacks and drinks and we head to our cars. It felt like an odd way to end a conversation. I wanted to know more. Why is moving a never for her? Why does she hate change?
Fast forward three years, and I am out on a walk. Pushing a stroller alongside another dear friend. While it’s a different place and person, in some ways this rhythm feels familiar. She asks “when do you go?” I reply “next month.” Immediately assuming she’ll also object to this idea, I follow with “and it’s so hard.” Without hesitation, she responds “oh moving is incredible. I love the change. I wish I could move.” And in the same pattern as previously, the young kids direct our attention elsewhere and it isn’t until I’m standing in my kitchen later that evening when I think to myself: why does she see moving as an adventure? Why does she love the change?
These two experiences demonstrate how circumstances are interpreted differently because of how we think. And, how we think generates how we feel and move with action (or inaction), ultimately creating our results.
What thoughts or feelings come up for you with the word change? What types of change are you experiencing in your current season of life? Change might be related to work, relationships, location, schooling, health or a variety of other circumstances. What if we don’t like the current change that is happening or feel like it is out of our control? What we we made the choice to make a change but it now feels overwhelming and difficult? Embracing change is the principle we’ll dive into this month.
To embrace means to support or accept willingly. Let’s discover four ways to make embracing change possible:
- AWARENESS.
What is a current change you are navigating?
How do you currently feel about this change? Why?
- ACCEPTANCE.
What are your reasons WHY this change exists in your life?
Do you like those reasons? Why or why not?
- ALLOW. Get quiet inside and listen. Practice the box breath. Name the feeling. Feel it in your body.
- AFFIRMATION. Choose to think intentionally. What is a thought you want to have?
While these four steps won’t necessarily change the circumstance, they empower us to own the story we are creating about whatever the circumstance may be. And that is what opens us to what’s possible in the present moment.
