Change is not merely something happening around us.
It is how life learns, adapts, strengthens and continues.
CHANGE IS LIFE. LIFE IS CHANGE.
CHANGE—WHAT IS IT? HOW CHANGE CREATES GROWTH
The underlying premise of change is discovering and uncovering our ability to create it.
When we assign our attention to something and take action, we begin affecting the outcome.
This is called cause and effect.
We quickly discover that doing something—even anything—can make a difference.
Then we discover what comes next:
TRIAL AND ERROR.
Our ability to participate, learn, correct and move toward an outcome is a major part of our existence.
It is called:
WELCOME TO YOUR LIFE.
WELCOME TO YOUR LIFE
Locked within us—and waiting to be activated—is much of what we need to thrive within our circumstances.
Look to nature for an example.
A seed falls into the soil.
It is visited by rain, pressure, sunlight, wind, other seeds and countless outside forces.
It does not choose perfect conditions.
It begins working with the environment in which it finds itself.
Within that environment, it comes to life and begins taking its place.
THIS SYSTEM WORKS
The seed-in-the-ground system works because it was designed to work.
If it did not work, we would know that too!
Now consider the human being as being planted upon this earth.
People require nurturing, support, guidance and encouragement. Yet they must also rise to the occasion and participate in their own development.
We arrive carrying the ability to respond, learn, adapt and grow.
It is natural.
LIFE IS VERY POWERFUL
All life—whatever we can see, cannot see, understand or merely wonder about—has something in common:
It wants to live and take its opportunity to do so.
The drive to answer life’s call is given to every living thing.
It operates naturally and sometimes accomplishes something miraculous that appears to defy reason and expected performance.
Life will reach through cracks.
Roots will move around stones.
A fragile beginning will search for what it needs.
TO LIVE!
Creation wants to take its assigned place.
It begins unfolding by grasping the circumstances in which it finds itself.
More delicate and exposed forms of life require mentors, keepers and stewards to help them through vulnerable developmental stages.
They receive support until they can stand on their own.
Human beings are not so different.
We begin dependent.
We grow through assistance, experience, resistance and eventually responsibility.
START-UP
Once something is activated—once it comes alive—it assumes a form designed to evolve.
That means it must change through order and necessity to support its growth, development and survival.
Human beings eventually learn to participate in their own growth.
We begin taking our place not merely to exist, but to develop, contribute and help life continue.
Starting is important.
Adapting keeps the start alive.
RESISTANCE EQUALS GROWTH
It is interesting that a certain amount of stress is necessary to form and strengthen what is coming to life.
The new life and its environment may resist one another.
Yet these same dynamics can help the developing life become stronger.
THINK:
Strong winds help produce strong trees.
Appropriate muscular activity helps build stronger bones.
Resistance is not automatically evidence that something is going wrong.
Sometimes resistance is the very thing teaching us how to stand.
WITH HUMANS, IT GETS DICEY
At some point in our development, human beings may use the power of choice incorrectly.
Some mistakes are part of discovering what works, what does not and what can be improved.
But choice also introduces distractions and ineffective behaviors.
We may even begin repeating what does not work while expecting a different outcome.
This is where life can become dicey.
Trial and error teaches only when we are willing to learn from the error.
WE NEED EACH OTHER
This is where someone outside the person may arrive and help create the change necessary to continue, prosper and grow toward meaning, purpose and results.
Parents carry this responsibility.
Teachers, counselors, friends and sometimes complete strangers may also influence the necessary change.
The world, its systems and unexpected situations continue stimulating our development.
Help may open the door.
But we must eventually cooperate—or stagnate.
PERSONAL CHANGE
Personal change is the one we are responsible for.
If you invest wisely in it, your personal stock goes up.
Through the fine-tuning of this investment, we develop rewarding behavior that first benefits us and then makes us more prepared to receive positive people, forces and opportunities.
And they do join us.
Healthy personal change can produce satisfaction, contentment and peace.
You are both the investment and the investor.
PROFESSIONAL CHANGE
Within the world of products and services, people are always looking for ways to improve.
There are at least two good reasons.
First, we improve because we can provide a superior product or service. Improvement keeps us current, useful and worthy of continued support.
Second, competitors are making their own adjustments.
They will continue tweaking, improving and creating.
We must participate—or risk becoming unnecessary.
Professional change is not always comfortable, but refusing to adapt can become considerably less comfortable.
ANOTHER NATURE EXAMPLE
Marvel at how one season hands life to another.
Each completes its cycle and then participates in the next.
Everything else begins harmonizing with these changes.
Plants, animals and insects join the movement.
Human beings also influence and manage these changes—for the benefit of all when we act wisely, or for the worse when we fail in our stewardship.
Nature does not call every change a crisis.
Sometimes it calls it another season.
BEND OR BREAK
I am reminded of young saplings and sprouts.
They quickly learn how to adjust to sunlight, rain, cold and wind.
They bend and flow, increasing their opportunity to survive in the present while also carrying information forward for future life.
The young tree that bends with the wind may remain standing long enough to become the strong tree.
Failure to bend and flow can eventually lead toward extinction.
Cooperation invites more life.
CHANGE IS LIFE—LIFE IS CHANGE
Change is not separate from life.
It is one of life’s main activities.
We learn.
We adjust.
We correct.
We release what no longer works and strengthen what does.
We bend when bending is wise.
We stand firm when standing is required.
Change is life.
Life is change.
FINAL THOUGHT
Change does not always mean that something was wrong.
Sometimes it means something is alive.
The seed changes because it is growing.
The seasons change because life is continuing.
We change because we are still participating.
PEARLS INSIGHT (SEO)
Learning how to handle change requires resilience, self-awareness, flexibility and purposeful action. Resistance can support personal growth when we learn from trial and error, accept appropriate help and adapt without surrendering our core values.
PEARLS FROM THE BOOKS
“Strong winds help produce strong trees. Sometimes resistance is the very thing teaching us how to stand.”
PEARLS CONNECTION
What change are you currently resisting?
Is it asking you to abandon something important—or simply inviting you to bend, learn and grow?
The answer determines whether you should hold firm or adjust your direction.
RICHIE SPEAKS
I have discovered that change keeps showing up whether I welcome it, question it or ask it to come back later.
So I may as well introduce myself!
Some change requires me to stand.
Some requires me to bend.
Wisdom is knowing which one the moment is asking for.
FINAL SAY
Life does not remain alive by remaining exactly the same.
It participates.
It adapts.
It grows.
Bend when wisdom says bend.
Stand when purpose says stand.
CHANGE IS LIFE.
LIFE IS CHANGE.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
Website: https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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