‘Change’ is whatever I make it to be. How do you view change?

‘Change’ is whatever I make it to be. How do you view change?

I have been very confused by the word ‘change’ lately. I feel like a lot of people talk about change and that it is something powerful. Usually it is used as something super positive or something really negative. Because change can mean improvement and/or a lot of uncomfortable inconvenience. Whether the two are related and how perspective might come into play, I will go into later. Also there seems to be a tendency to have an opinion about change; either someone needs to change, someone changed to any disliking or someone finally changed. In these three cases neither come from a loving and supportive heart. In my opinion (; So how can I view change for myself and make it something that helps me in my personal growth?

 

First of all, what is change?

To me change is doing something different than before. This can be in the little things; drinking some lemon water every morning and doing the dishes every evening. For me these changes added to cultivating a morning and evening routine, which was lacking in my life before. To me it is an implementation of a conscious (re)action to a certain situation. I guess I feel like, I can only make any changes if I reflect and become aware of certain (re)action that I might want to change. In this reflection, I could also decide that a change is not necessary, or I could see whether a small nuance can make a big difference. This truly depends on the situation, including my own state of being. How I feel will for sure have an effect on my (re)action, therefore this is always my favorite place to start.

What can change mean to me?

Consciously implementing little changes can result in a bigger change. For a long time my pitfall was to focus on a major change that I wanted to achieve. Through failing multiple times, I had to learn to start with the little things. Take my morning and evening routine. At first I judged myself of not having healthy morning and evening routines and thought I had to implement a perfect one on day one. As I tried and failed multiple times, I learned that I had to break up this process in little new habits. First, I had to reflect on what I needed in my morning in order to start the day right and what I needed in the evening in order to slow down my day. Then I needed to try little habits and reflect on how they work for me. Because we are all different, so there isn’t a perfect morning or evening routine that works for everyone. There are only guidelines to life. Ok, this might get a little to deep for this blog post so let’s just focus on the concept of change for now. I see change as creating a conscious effort for personal growth. As I see change as inevitable, I might as well make the best of it!

 

What can change mean to others?

Others voices can strengthen my own inner voices in moments of doubt. Or can strengthen my motivation in moments of determination. Therefore, it is beneficial of being aware of the voices I surround yourself with or let in. This also meant, I made different choices in when to voice the changes I was trying to implement and to whom. As some people might give the right criticism to get that extra growth or offer the necessary support to keep at it. However, it can be an easy habit to give too much power to other people in holding us back or finding support. I believe that in the end, it is up to me to find the balance in determination and openness to let the change happen. Since change lies in little habits and it is a process, sometimes it can not be visible or understood yet while I am implementing these little new habits. And from the outside perspective it can seem that the change is suddenly there, as something unexpected. While I have learned otherwise is usually the case ((:

How to deal with/know what to change?

Ow, jeeez. I am still figuring this out myself. Though I can say I have found some tools to help me along the way. I guess, in my eyes awareness is key. This starts with just trying out (new) things, failing at them and then checking the narratives popping up. I actually wrote some previous blog post about this:

Firsts. Why they are scary, necessary and an adventure

Fail

Check your narrative

My yoga and meditation practice help me a lot too. Above is more starting the process that enable (re)actions to reflect on, while yoga en meditation are tools to gain the awareness. This way the (re)actions triggered are not lost, but can be used to cultivate some sort of change. Below two blog post about yoga and meditation:

Daily awareness by practicing yoga for scoliosis

Meditation

The concept ‘change’ is still confusing to me. But I am making the best of it. In the end. Change is whatever I make it to be.