Pause and look at the world around you: it will end in a moment.
Change pervades every part of our world on our every scale. Your own body is changing as you read this message. Your topmost layers of skin are subtly dying, to be replaced by the skin beneath. Your hair is growing. In your stomach, food is being annihilated and transformed into useful fuel. The room around you is decaying. Dustmotes too small to see swirl and dance, gathering across every surface. The beverage next to your desk is slowly evaporating.
Macro-scale changes are similarly all-pervasive. The stock market is a chaotic storm of thrilling change. A continuum of wondrous new technology emerges, rises to power, and becomes obsolete as you watch. The slang and idioms of today are gradually canonized, and your very language slowly evolves. Politicians come and go, and in the larger time scale, their very parties come and go, and again larger scale, their very countries come and go.
Change is one of the biggest, most common fears in western society. More people fear change, more deeply, than any other phobia. Here's a little exercise. Imagine if tomorrow you wake up in a totally different country. You find that you can speak the language with ease, at the same time you've magically forgotten your original language. You have friends, a career, family... all in this foreign country which is utterly different than anything you've ever experienced. Although your life in the new landscape is equally blessed compared to your former life, feel how out of place and shocked you are. Now, try to see through the eyes of someone who's lived in that foreign land from birth. Imagine that THEY took your place and you took theirs, when the transportation occurred. They've inherited your old life while you inherited theirs. Are they any less shocked and displaced than you? They are just as lost and afraid! That proves, it's not the new country- whichever country you chose- that stirs up those fears. It's CHANGE itself which stirs them up.
Change is the most powerful fear in our society. CONQUER the fear of change, and that puts you among the bravest people alive.
Change is inevitable: you cannot stop it, neither can you escape it, not though you expend all the power of the mythological gods. You have a choice: you can resist change, and change will occur. Or, you can accept change, and change will occur.
The third, secret option, is to embrace change. Condition yourself to love change, and all your life you'll be thrilled by it. Certainly there'll never be any lack of change.
There are different levels of embracing change. You can superficially embrace change on the outside, and still fear it deep inside. You can embrace change on every level. Most people don't embrace change at all: most people despise and fear change.
HOW CAN YOU MOVE FURTHER TOWARD EMBRACING CHANGE?
Despite how much people fear change, it's very easy to take steps toward conquering the fear. The techniques are so simple, they almost seem silly.
TECHNIQUE #1: Conscious choice. Consciously, deliberately make the decision to embrace change. Make this a routine. At least once a day, say to yourself: "I choose to welcome change in my life." Gradually, your fear of change will begin to loosen.
TECHNIQUE #2: Fake-it-til-you-make-it. A variation on Technique #1, in Fake-it-til-you-make-it, you tell yourself: "I welcome change in my life." Do this at least once a day. This technique is more powerful than technique #1. However, if you're highly resistant to change, using this technique might produce resistance. For example, you might feel silly because of your efforts. You might feel like, "I'm just lying to myself." If resistance comes up, persevere; alternately, go to Technique #1 for awhile until you can make the jump to Technique #2 more smoothly.
TECHNIQUE #3: Attention (hat tip Eckhart Tolle). Whenever you find yourself getting upset about ANY change. Simply become aware of this. Don't go out of your way or do any sort of special reaction: merely say to yourself, "hmmm, I'm resisting change right now." Or better yet, merely KNOW to yourself, that you're resisting change, without any mental dialogue. The point is, become aware of the matter. Amazingly, merely being aware of the resistance, will have a dissolving effect on the resistance. It's like magic, and it's really very powerful. The technique is very powerful when you pull it off, the downside is it takes lots of discipline to remember to become aware like that when very real day-to-day situations trigger change-resistance.
TECHNIQUE #4: Ridiculous Optimism. When you become aware of change of any form, find ways that it can benefit you. Really look for that silver lining behind every raincloud. It doesn't matter if the "bad" in the situation outweighs the "good" by a huge amount; do whatever mental gymnastics it takes, to find SOMETHING to be grateful for in the change. I'll list some examples.
Example 1 of Ridiculous Optimism: Your favorite TV show is cancelled. Well, maybe this is just a sign it's time to finish that classic novel you've been meaning to read. Maybe this is an opportunity to discover something better which you can spend that hour doing.
Example 2 of Ridiculous Optimism: You get fired. Well, at least now you don't have to put up with (insert some workplace bother). Maybe this is just a sign that it's time to do a career change. If nothing else... life is going to get a bit more adventurous!
Example 3 of Ridiculous Optimism: You break up with your significant other. Well, they had certain baggage, and now you're rid of that. You can go hit the singles bars, maybe a few danceclubs, have some fun. If nothing else, you've learned a great deal from the relationship and it'll make a fascinating, dramatic chapter in your life when you look back later.
TECHNIQUE #5: Worst-Case-Optimism. This technique is a sort of meditation. It's an imagination exercise. When a change comes up which you seem to be upset about. Visualize the worst scenario that could possibly happen. For example, your company has to cut costs: worst case scenario, you could be fired. Imagine yourself working at another workplace, laughing and joking with the coworkers. Maybe your party loses the national elections. Absolute worst case scenario, you could be imprisoned as a political prisoner. Picture yourself in a work camp, sharing a clandestine smile with a fellow prisoner. Picture yourself twenty years later, when your party's come back into power, making speeches and selling books about your experience. The details aren't important, nor do they have to be really logical even. The point is that after imagining surviving the worst case scenario and thriving. Whatever much easier situations arise, you'll be able to laugh at.
LIVE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW
Many people, especially older people, cling to a bygone world. Biding their time, waiting til all these new fads go out of style and things return to how they were fifty years ago. Well, that ain't gonna happen. Embrace the world of the now. Embrace the new technology. Embrace the new language and slang. Embrace new philosophies, new entertainment, new fashion. If you don't, the new things will just come anyway, you certainly can't stop them!
CHANGE REALLY IS INEVITABLE
Even if you were king of the world and could ban change with an iron fist, change would eventually come. If nothing else, you would eventually die. Death is as much a part of the human condition as birth. A proverb says:
The end of meeting is parting.
The end of building is ruin.
The end of accumulation is dispersal.
The end of birth is death.
Think about this for a second. This isn't a rule of thumb. This proverb is cruel, unforgiving truth. Everyone you know right now, in a hundred years you will no longer know them. Every manmade thing in your life, in a thousand years they will be gone. You yourself WILL die, and that is the ultimate change. Accept the fact that you will die. EMBRACE the fact that you will die. USE the fact that you will die, as inspiration to live an intense life, filled to the uttermost with adventure and achievements and love and joy. There's no time to waste. You could be dead a moment from now, so ENJOY THIS MOMENT!!
A WORLD OF ENTROPY
In parting, here's a final visualization. Imagine what would happen to the world if humans were suddenly whisked away. Picture the remains of a metropolis. At first, it's just another day, except no humans around. Vegetation starts growing unchecked, over the years, stubborn plants start breaking down the pavement, the cement, all the structures. Weather beats upon the buildings, animals gradually move in, all the skyscrapers begin to decay. Earthquakes and fires, floods and hurricanes rage, breaking the city down. Unmaintained, anything manmade will gradually decay away. Picture the city after a hundred years. Completely overgrown and decayed. What about after a thousand years? Will there be anything left? Even if archaeologists dug it up, there'd be very little left of the city. What about after ten thousand years? A hundred thousand years? Change is powerful, the most powerful force in the universe, it's an awesome force and a beautiful one, when you embrace and welcome it.
(Above: A city on the deserted island of Hashima, Japan)
Change pervades every part of our world on our every scale. Your own body is changing as you read this message. Your topmost layers of skin are subtly dying, to be replaced by the skin beneath. Your hair is growing. In your stomach, food is being annihilated and transformed into useful fuel. The room around you is decaying. Dustmotes too small to see swirl and dance, gathering across every surface. The beverage next to your desk is slowly evaporating.
Macro-scale changes are similarly all-pervasive. The stock market is a chaotic storm of thrilling change. A continuum of wondrous new technology emerges, rises to power, and becomes obsolete as you watch. The slang and idioms of today are gradually canonized, and your very language slowly evolves. Politicians come and go, and in the larger time scale, their very parties come and go, and again larger scale, their very countries come and go.
Change is one of the biggest, most common fears in western society. More people fear change, more deeply, than any other phobia. Here's a little exercise. Imagine if tomorrow you wake up in a totally different country. You find that you can speak the language with ease, at the same time you've magically forgotten your original language. You have friends, a career, family... all in this foreign country which is utterly different than anything you've ever experienced. Although your life in the new landscape is equally blessed compared to your former life, feel how out of place and shocked you are. Now, try to see through the eyes of someone who's lived in that foreign land from birth. Imagine that THEY took your place and you took theirs, when the transportation occurred. They've inherited your old life while you inherited theirs. Are they any less shocked and displaced than you? They are just as lost and afraid! That proves, it's not the new country- whichever country you chose- that stirs up those fears. It's CHANGE itself which stirs them up.
Change is the most powerful fear in our society. CONQUER the fear of change, and that puts you among the bravest people alive.
Change is inevitable: you cannot stop it, neither can you escape it, not though you expend all the power of the mythological gods. You have a choice: you can resist change, and change will occur. Or, you can accept change, and change will occur.
The third, secret option, is to embrace change. Condition yourself to love change, and all your life you'll be thrilled by it. Certainly there'll never be any lack of change.
There are different levels of embracing change. You can superficially embrace change on the outside, and still fear it deep inside. You can embrace change on every level. Most people don't embrace change at all: most people despise and fear change.
HOW CAN YOU MOVE FURTHER TOWARD EMBRACING CHANGE?
Despite how much people fear change, it's very easy to take steps toward conquering the fear. The techniques are so simple, they almost seem silly.TECHNIQUE #1: Conscious choice. Consciously, deliberately make the decision to embrace change. Make this a routine. At least once a day, say to yourself: "I choose to welcome change in my life." Gradually, your fear of change will begin to loosen.
TECHNIQUE #2: Fake-it-til-you-make-it. A variation on Technique #1, in Fake-it-til-you-make-it, you tell yourself: "I welcome change in my life." Do this at least once a day. This technique is more powerful than technique #1. However, if you're highly resistant to change, using this technique might produce resistance. For example, you might feel silly because of your efforts. You might feel like, "I'm just lying to myself." If resistance comes up, persevere; alternately, go to Technique #1 for awhile until you can make the jump to Technique #2 more smoothly.
TECHNIQUE #3: Attention (hat tip Eckhart Tolle). Whenever you find yourself getting upset about ANY change. Simply become aware of this. Don't go out of your way or do any sort of special reaction: merely say to yourself, "hmmm, I'm resisting change right now." Or better yet, merely KNOW to yourself, that you're resisting change, without any mental dialogue. The point is, become aware of the matter. Amazingly, merely being aware of the resistance, will have a dissolving effect on the resistance. It's like magic, and it's really very powerful. The technique is very powerful when you pull it off, the downside is it takes lots of discipline to remember to become aware like that when very real day-to-day situations trigger change-resistance.
TECHNIQUE #4: Ridiculous Optimism. When you become aware of change of any form, find ways that it can benefit you. Really look for that silver lining behind every raincloud. It doesn't matter if the "bad" in the situation outweighs the "good" by a huge amount; do whatever mental gymnastics it takes, to find SOMETHING to be grateful for in the change. I'll list some examples.
Example 1 of Ridiculous Optimism: Your favorite TV show is cancelled. Well, maybe this is just a sign it's time to finish that classic novel you've been meaning to read. Maybe this is an opportunity to discover something better which you can spend that hour doing.
Example 2 of Ridiculous Optimism: You get fired. Well, at least now you don't have to put up with (insert some workplace bother). Maybe this is just a sign that it's time to do a career change. If nothing else... life is going to get a bit more adventurous!
Example 3 of Ridiculous Optimism: You break up with your significant other. Well, they had certain baggage, and now you're rid of that. You can go hit the singles bars, maybe a few danceclubs, have some fun. If nothing else, you've learned a great deal from the relationship and it'll make a fascinating, dramatic chapter in your life when you look back later.
TECHNIQUE #5: Worst-Case-Optimism. This technique is a sort of meditation. It's an imagination exercise. When a change comes up which you seem to be upset about. Visualize the worst scenario that could possibly happen. For example, your company has to cut costs: worst case scenario, you could be fired. Imagine yourself working at another workplace, laughing and joking with the coworkers. Maybe your party loses the national elections. Absolute worst case scenario, you could be imprisoned as a political prisoner. Picture yourself in a work camp, sharing a clandestine smile with a fellow prisoner. Picture yourself twenty years later, when your party's come back into power, making speeches and selling books about your experience. The details aren't important, nor do they have to be really logical even. The point is that after imagining surviving the worst case scenario and thriving. Whatever much easier situations arise, you'll be able to laugh at.
LIVE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW
Many people, especially older people, cling to a bygone world. Biding their time, waiting til all these new fads go out of style and things return to how they were fifty years ago. Well, that ain't gonna happen. Embrace the world of the now. Embrace the new technology. Embrace the new language and slang. Embrace new philosophies, new entertainment, new fashion. If you don't, the new things will just come anyway, you certainly can't stop them!
CHANGE REALLY IS INEVITABLE
Even if you were king of the world and could ban change with an iron fist, change would eventually come. If nothing else, you would eventually die. Death is as much a part of the human condition as birth. A proverb says:
The end of meeting is parting.
The end of building is ruin.
The end of accumulation is dispersal.
The end of birth is death.
Think about this for a second. This isn't a rule of thumb. This proverb is cruel, unforgiving truth. Everyone you know right now, in a hundred years you will no longer know them. Every manmade thing in your life, in a thousand years they will be gone. You yourself WILL die, and that is the ultimate change. Accept the fact that you will die. EMBRACE the fact that you will die. USE the fact that you will die, as inspiration to live an intense life, filled to the uttermost with adventure and achievements and love and joy. There's no time to waste. You could be dead a moment from now, so ENJOY THIS MOMENT!!
A WORLD OF ENTROPY
In parting, here's a final visualization. Imagine what would happen to the world if humans were suddenly whisked away. Picture the remains of a metropolis. At first, it's just another day, except no humans around. Vegetation starts growing unchecked, over the years, stubborn plants start breaking down the pavement, the cement, all the structures. Weather beats upon the buildings, animals gradually move in, all the skyscrapers begin to decay. Earthquakes and fires, floods and hurricanes rage, breaking the city down. Unmaintained, anything manmade will gradually decay away. Picture the city after a hundred years. Completely overgrown and decayed. What about after a thousand years? Will there be anything left? Even if archaeologists dug it up, there'd be very little left of the city. What about after ten thousand years? A hundred thousand years? Change is powerful, the most powerful force in the universe, it's an awesome force and a beautiful one, when you embrace and welcome it.
(Above: A city on the deserted island of Hashima, Japan)---------
Speaking of change, here are some other things I've written that will change your life:
The Three Scariest Things
Book Review: The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
The Mirror
Speaking of change, here are some other things I've written that will change your life:
The Three Scariest Things
Book Review: The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
The Mirror
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