CHANGE

I've come to embrace change. This, from a human who used to do everything in her power to avoid change!  I remember at one point in my life moving into a house I'd purchased jointly with my then husband, saying "that's the LAST time I'm moving"!! hahahaha  The joke was definitely on ME!  It's years later now and I find myself (after many seemingly 'forced' changes) with all my material belongings able to fit into one room, moving place to place living like a gypsy....and I've never been happier or felt more free in my entire life!  

When I look back in my life at the times of transformation, it's very clear that better times would come in place of what was falling away.  Seems we are in times of great change here on our planet as we all move through circumstances beyond our control.  It appears to me that hearts are opening and people are coming together in spirit through these challenging times.  Change can seem unfair, but if we wait awhile, we're able to look back with more clarity. 

Change is easier to move through when embraced not resisted, and it's happening in our lives constantly by way of death, loss of a job, falling away of relationships, or a change of residence, to name a few.  Sometimes change comes all at once, sometimes it comes voluntarily and sometimes it is forced by the universe because of a bigger master plan that we can't see yet.  Either way, it is there for the purpose of making way for new people, places and situations to enter our lives.  We can use it to expand and transform ourselves and our lives, or we can curl up and let it defeat us.

Change sometimes seems forced when it is actually an answer to our prayers and wishes for a better life.  If we vision ourselves being the best possible version of ourselves, and we ask the universe to help us in that vision, then we have to be open to 'how' that takes shape.  The universe is in charge of the 'hows', not us, and the saying be careful what you wish for comes to mind at this moment.  When we vision and ask for something, we are showing the universe we are willing to change so why do we do we freak out when change happens?  Usually because it's not happening the way WE want it to!! We usually would rather take the safe route without too much discomfort, when in actual fact change is NOT always comfortable.  

A letting go or grieving as the old falls away is an important part of our human process as well.  Letting go of the old actually makes 'space' for the new and unknown to enter.  We must however, be careful not to stay in our grieving for prolonged periods of time as that can put a hold on the new people, places and situations that are ready to enter our lives.  Looking back for too long at what we feel we 'lost', whether that is a person, a job, a situation, or material belongings, can keep us from moving forward.  

If we think of change as an opportunity to welcome a new aspect of ourselves or a chance to mold our life into something productive and positive from that loss, we can learn to move through the uncomfortable times with more ease and understand the process better.  This keeps us from having fear become the emotion that ultimately takes over and paralyzes us.  Fear is always present on some level  as we move through times of change, but we don't have to let it take over our lives.  Courage is not the absence of fear, it's feeling the fear and doing it regardless!!  

I've learned over and over again in my life, that as time passes there is always some blessing that has come through the changes I've gone through if I keep my heart open to seeing what that blessing is.  The most profound and powerful blessings have come from the hardest and most painful times in my life.  I can see now the universe had bigger plans for me than I had for myself and all those shake ups and breakdowns were so I could build a stronger, happier, and better version of myself.  

So if you feel life is forcing change in your life, hang on and breathe through the process while you keep your heart and eyes open to the blessings that show themselves.  Be willing to let go of the past and take time to grieve and say goodbye to the old.  You can also do what I do, think of yourself as a caterpillar in the process of morphing into a butterfly, a rabbit changing colors, or a snake shedding it's old skin.  BREATHE......TRUST.....and BELIEVE.  

Whatever you do, try to remember that CHANGE is a part of life and no matter how much we resist it, the fact is that nothing ever stays the same.  Ever.