When we are born, we are wired to feel comfortable with our surroundings and adapt to our environment. We learn many things as we grow, many of them unconsciously. Then life happens and things begin to change. This is when we have to adapt and learn to deal with whatever life throws our way.
Life is full of changes, in almost every corner. As we go through life, we realize how inevitable change becomes and that it is going to happen, whether we like it or not. However, we may not want to accept this and resist the changes needed.
Changes can take something away or add something new to our lives. We may experience pain, discomfort, fear, and various challenges in dealing with them. Alternatively, when changes are perceived to be good we experience feelings of joy and gratitude.
Unfortunately, it is easier and more common to resist change than to embrace it. Our subconscious mind is much happier with constancy, and change triggers varying levels of the fear response. Changes in our lives can teach us new things, but we need to accept change to embrace any of its lessons.
Tolerance of Change is Necessary to Attain Peace
Nobody has ever claimed that change is easy. Change throws us out of our comfort zone and can cause pain and inconvenience. We may grieve the loss of something familiar in our lives because change is a transition from one thing to another.
Dealing with change always takes time. However, when we accept and embrace change, life starts to get easier. From a personal growth perspective, it’s often more beneficial to accept than resist it. How we experience change also depends on what we’re choosing to focus on.
Are we viewing change as a potentially positive experience, or are we determined to resist it? The latter almost always brings some degree of suffering and struggle.
Every time we resist, we lose the point of the needed change in the first place. Of course, many changes we experience can also be beyond our control. If we try to put things back as they were, we can often make things worse.
You can probably think of situations yourself where you have resisted and fought a pending change, and all your resisting did was bring you pain and misery. In the end, the change still happened, and all your angst and self-induced pain were for naught.
The sooner you allow change to occur, the sooner you will find peace and unlock hidden opportunities that normally come with it.
Allowing Change Can Bring Us Closer to Our Authentic Self
Something beautiful happens when we choose to allow change to occur naturally. The course of life can be very different from our choice or desire. We can exercise a huge degree of influence over what we do and what happens, but we don’t live in a bubble.
We are still very much subject to the reality of life and its external happenings, even when we are adept at controlling our responses to them. We may adapt, but life never stays in one place.
Life is said to be synonymous with change and this is most evident in nature. The seasons, the weather, natural life, and even our bodies carry this reminder with every passing moment.
Unwittingly, change can also be the driving force of changing us into the person we become. When we allow change to occur, we are challenged in many ways.
Sometimes, these challenges are profound enough to cause us to challenge and eliminate some of our past conditionings and shape us into the person that we truly are. Our authentic self.
Our authentic self is often hidden behind several layers of learned thoughts and behaviors. These inputs are quite often unconscious and may not serve our best interests, in terms of achieving success and happiness. Sometimes, it takes situations filled with pressure and change that challenge our core beliefs to unravel who we are.
Every change that rocks our boat and rearranges our life in some way can be an opportunity to grow into the best version of ourselves.
Will You Resist Change or Embrace It?
It is empowering to know that we most often have a choice whether to embrace change or resist it, or we can at least choose the degree. No matter what change may do to us, it is still an opportunity for growth and a chance to experience something new that may turn out for the better. Change can be your best ally to evolve into your authentic self.
While not all changes are pleasant, seeing them as opportunities for growth and a chance to improve can help make the experience much less painful and a whole lot more exciting. Start thinking more positively and learn to accept and hopefully embrace any change in your life. If there is uncertainty that comes with any change, learn to deal with it appropriately as change is a part of life.
