What You Resist Persists!
“Change is the root of life,” old Hebrew maxim
The Earth is reawakening, yawning into a new season of transformation masterly reflecting change within us all. Trees are sprouting new leaves, flowers taking bud; this newfound wealth of life mirrors earth’s abundance. As the trees and plants adjust to the shifting season can you imagine the trees and plants saying, “I hate change, why can’t everything just stay the same!” No, I can’t imagine it either.
Why do we fear change? Is it because we like life the way it is or maybe because we fear failure or are we afraid to discover of our true selves?
Author, Louise Hay, proclaims that, “Some people would rather leave the planet than change.”
Change is scary and yet we are continually confronted by it. For instance, every cell in your body changes regularly, if it didn’t the body would wear out much faster. So, on one level you are accepting change because you have no apparent power over it. But how about that niggling little conscious level of your being.
On a conscious level many of us have difficulty with change because we’re afraid of what this will bring. But if you knew that it would bring greater abundance and more opportunities for growth would you open your arms and invite change into your life? Or would you rather things stay the same?
Poet, David Whyte said, “Man is the only species privileged to refuse its own flowering.”
Just imagine for a moment a tree saying it will not grow, it will not sprout leaves, or a plant declining to cultivate a flower. How would this impact the world? Well, we need trees for oxygen so if the tree didn’t produce leaves we would have less air to sustain us. The absence of the flower influences the development of the insect world, without the insects we lose the birds, losing the birds means that other life cannot survive including plants dependent upon them to pollinate.
If you refuse to change how does this impact your world?
We can become addicted to a way of being and a way of life. Change means that we have to face this addiction and just like an addict we have to learn to let go of our comfort zone. We can take a leaf out of the natural world and accept it as a given, to go with the flow and allow change to be a natural part of existence, or we can kick and scream our way through it. Which would you rather do? Which one will take most of your energy?
What you resist persists!
Have you noticed that you use some of these ways to resist change?
- Changing the subject
- Illness
- Procrastination
- Daydreaming
- Creating obstacles
- A voice within that says you do not deserve change, that you are not good enough!
- Refusing to begin something because “it is the wrong time”
- Experiencing feelings of not being understood or not good enough
- Clutter
- Holding others responsible for your misfortunes
- Blaming the weather
- Being late or/and leaving early
The emotion that fuels resistance to change is fear and the first step toward healing this fear is awareness. Being aware that you are avoiding growth, resisting the opportunity to be abundant, and refusing to blossom can allow you insight into some of the difficulties in your life and why certain things are not working for you.
Having a clear vision of what you want can often avert the fear of change. Invite in the new by having a replacement plan to fill the gap once you release the old. The gap is one of the most frightening aspects of change so having a plan will help you to feel more at ease and allow you to move toward your objective effortlessly.
Change means a fresh perspective. Try these simple techniques to invite change into your life;
- Go a different way to work/home/shopping
- Vary your diet, try something you customarily wouldn’t pick
- Take one step at a time
- Live in the present moment and not in the future where you have no control over events
- Notice your avoidance tactics such as changing the subject or saying “Yes but!”
- What change would you make today that you are willing to commit to transforming now? Ask a friend to support you with this but remember that you are responsible for the change and not your friend.
- Affirm “I go with the flow of change in my life” “I embrace the abundance, growth opportunities, and new perspectives that change creates in my life.”
- Meditate and imagine you are a tree going through the seasons of change. Get a sense of the consciousness of the tree as it goes through change and invite this energy into your life.
Finally, I am writing a monthly column for a new monthly Internet magazine associated with the Body, Mind, Spirit, Expo named, “Spirit Side.” My column is called “Rainbow Spirit,” and focuses on color. Here is the link to their site Spirit Side Magazine .