Resistence is Futile!

 

Change

“Change is supremely inconvenient, uncomfortable and naturally scary. Yet we only move through life through the process of change, reinvention, and renewal, and so bravery is our quintessential rebel for pushing us past our own limiting beliefs and behaviors. Bravery is feeling the fear, immersing yourself into it and through it so you can come out the other side.”

Christina Evangelou

          Did you know that every cell in your body, except for central nervous system neurons, dies and regenerates in a seven-year period? That means that no part of you, except some of your brain cells, is the same as it was seven years ago. Change is a constant within and without. We cannot stop it, and we cannot resist it, but most of us fight it. We don’t want our bodies to change from youthful to limited, we don’t want our love relationships to lose their fire, and we don’t want our children to grow up and move away. And yet, all these things are part of the natural order. To resist them and grieve them when they come is uniquely human.

          For the most part, we seem to believe that we are somehow apart and separate from the created order. We want to be the one who never ages, never gains too many extra pounds, never breaks up with our spouse. We have a lot of “never me!” going on in our heads. Fear prevents us from seeing the true purpose of change—we see it as approaching death, but its purpose is renewal. We must be willing to let go of what was to reinvent and renew ourselves just like our cells do. Despite our fear. That which does not change over time is not alive.

          We don’t lose everything. If you look back at yourself as a child, what you loved then still has a place in your heart. The people who helped you grow may not be here physically, but you have incorporated them into yourself, and they live on through your words and actions. Sometimes, when I open my mouth, my mother’s or father’s voices speak. I realize in that moment that I sound just like them, that what I just said is something they said many times to me. The connections are still there; the person carrying those lives forward is you.

          When we make room for change, when we “immerse ourselves in it and allow ourselves to move through it,” we come out on the other side renewed. As does all of nature. Because we are alive, we change. And, it’s good to be alive.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane