Often we use the phrase “Change is good.” It may include starting a new relationship, or earning a promotion at work. Even “good change,” however, can start with a difficult struggle like a health crisis, a divorce, or a job loss.
We can also feel comforted in the paradox that “change is constant in life.” This, of course, doesn’t feel great when we find ourselves in the throes of the inherent challenges of change. All change signals the ending of one thing and the beginning of something new.
Transitions will always involve elements of both grief and growth. Dare to be uncomfortable…Changes that are difficult require a lot from us. And they often come at a time when we feel the least capable of coping with them.
Here’s a few tried and true ways to not just navigate the waters of change but say YES! to the magic that lies ahead:
Cultivate Awareness. Remember, you have survived all of your past changes up to this point. Could you imagine if you handled them with a little less kicking and screaming?
Be curious! There is a fear of the unknown.. but EVERYTHING was unknown to you at one point. So cultivating curiosity around it will soften the feeling of ‘eminent death’ at every transition whether it be big or small.
Be realistic not positive. It’s perfectly ok to admit the fear underlying the change. Say it out loud, to a friend, in a journal but don’t deny it. We all experience fear in any uncertainty.. it only hurts us to hold it in and suppress it. Like real physiological change when we let our fear overtake us.
See video for a simple breathing practice for radical acceptance of change.
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“The Guest House” - Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.