Making
Progress
“Progress
is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds
cannot change anything.”
George
Bernard Shaw
If
you have ever been part of a bureaucracy of any kind, you know that
resistance to change is a constant barrier to progress. Whether we're
talking about religious institutions, corporations, or established
boards of directors, large, old monoliths change at the speed of the
tectonic plates. The larger they are, the older they are, the slower
they move. And sooner or later, they are passed by some young, nimble
competitor, who not only does not resist change, but encourages and
embraces it. Constant change is a major components of all living
organisms. Lack of change, on the other hand, often spells death.
I
woke this morning remembering something I used to say to clients,
especially people unhappy with their partners. “She's not the woman
I married,” they'd say. “He's not the man I fell in love with.”
My response was always, “I should think not—since that was twenty
years ago.” Life changes us, experience changes us. We change over
time if we are alive and breathing. Change is not the enemy, it is
the reality.
Allowing
change is, in fact, the very essence of life. It is a “life wish”
instead of a “death wish.” Think of it this way: it is the
difference between clinching a butterfly in a closed fist, or holding
it in an open hand. Resistance to change crushes the life out of what
could be a very beautiful thing.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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