“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” ~ Stephen Hawking
Change is an inevitable part of our existence. Night changes into day, a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, the landscape changes with seasons, everything in nature undergoes change.
We too are an intricate part of nature, yet when change stares at our face we are apprehensive. We resist it sometimes and confront anxious moments because we don’t like stretching or stepping out of our comfort zone.
Just like a bud transforms into a beautiful flower, change transforms us in beautiful ways – there is an inner shift that takes place. It takes an immense amount of courage as well as understanding to welcome change – whether good or bad.
We recently started a new chapter in our lives, rather it seems like a new book altogether. A new job, new profession in a new city, new people, new home, new environment, new school – a completely new beginning.
A crucial part of any kind of change is to keep an open mind and most importantly, be non judgmental. For us the journey, although just at the starting line, has been positive so far.
When you create your environment from a place of joy and positivity, it will not only have an impact on your life but also on your surroundings.
Here we have four ways to hold steady during uncertain times ~
1) Stop resisting
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ~ Lao Tzu
Resistance is a common reaction to any change you might or might not foresee in life. Initially, I was apprehensive too, with so many changes about to take place all at once – “how am I going to cope up?
Will I be able to take on the challenges? What if we don’t like it at all?” Series of questions popped up in my head making me rethink our decisions – a common trait of the monkey mind before it ventures into unknown territory.
How will you deal with it? Face it, the challenge here is not to get swayed by this uncertainty that comes with any change. Adopting this approach will go a long way to face any change in life. Don’t hesitate, take the plunge!
2) Allow the external noise to pass
“What you resist not only persists, but will grow in size.” ~ Carl Jung
As long as you are confident about the decisions you’ve made, nothing will dissuade you from making the changes in your life, no matter what.
We faced many questions too like why such a big step of moving to a new city, will we be able to stay in a apartment, etc… It’s a big change from the rural countryside where we spent nearly a decade of our lives. We were quite certain of the school we wanted so that made the transition easier.
3) Go easy on yourself
“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” ~ C. JoyBell C.
Things might not fall in place all at once. Give yourself time to settle and get use to the new changes. Enjoy the new experiences. When I joined school as a Waldorf teacher, on my first few days as a Kindergarten teacher, there were moments where I felt like a fish out of water, but I allowed that feeling to pass by giving myself time to adapt to the newness…
In my case if I seemed restless or anxious to the young children (4-5 year olds) the class would be in total chaos. Yes, its not easy to be a kindergarten teacher, but a welcoming challenge nonetheless.
4) What can I learn from change
“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Don’t judge your experiences as good or bad. You might have a bad day, and your immediate reaction might be to blame it on the change that has happened and that’s the reason why things didn’t go as you wanted it to, but, Hold On.
Your thoughts are powerful so the message you are sending out to the universe is that this ‘particular’ change is not good for me and the result is that the events that follow will have the same negative energy attached to it.
On the other hand, if you look at a bad day with the thought of “what can I learn from this?” will have a positive ripple effect in the universe. This way you will also learn to embrace the situation or change instead of resisting it.
Create new memories. Enjoy the new experiences.
Image source
Contemporary Art – Marleen Visser
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