Thoughts . . .

May 14-20, 2000 - Vol. 3, No. 12

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QUOTATION OF THE WEEK

We must learn to view change as a natural phenomenon--to anticipate it and to plan for it. The future is ours to channel in the direction we want to go . . . we must continually ask ourselves, "What will happen if . . . ?" or better still, "How can we make it happen?"
--Lisa Taylor

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Can you imagine what life would be like without change? Everything would stagnate, for the very essence of life is change. Everything in nature is constantly changing. Flowers are blooming and dying. Clouds are forming and dissolving. Land masses are moving. Animals are being born, grow, live and die--completing their cycle of life. What about humans? Are we not changing by the second? Our bodies are changing as we grow older, take on new activities, diet, eat, exercise. Our minds are changing as we experience new things.

So if change is a natural and necessary part of life, why then do we resist it so much? What is it about the human species that makes us fear change? The answers are many but at the core is fear. Our fears can be many: fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of looking foolish or being ridiculed. We become comfortable and safe in our shells and do not want to do anything that jars us, so we just exist with things as they are. Yet in doing so we lose the possibilities for greater growth and happiness for ourselves and others. True, the grass is not always greener, and much can be said for accepting things that we cannot change. However, this does not mean that we cannot aspire to change the things that we can, and, as the Serenity Prayer states, "to know the difference between the two."

Do not run from change. Embrace it. Look at it as a portal to new and exciting accomplishments. See it as the core of living a rich and fruitful life. Begin to experience all the possibilities that life has to offer by making the changes that are necessary. As Lisa Taylor says, "we must continually ask ourselves, . . . ‘How can we make it happen?'"