Five Ways to Welcome Change in the New Year

Five Ways to Welcome Change in the New Year
By Elizabeth Lesser


Raise your hand if you've had a crazy year with lots of changes--good, bad, or otherwise. OK! Just as I thought; we're all in this together. The most difficult change I've been dealing with is my sister's cancer diagnosis and treatment. Sitting by her bed in the oncology unit the other day, I came across words by the great Sufi master, Hazrat Inayat Khan: "Walking on the turning wheel of the earth, living under the ever-rotating sun, man expects a peaceful life."

Reading them, I had an a-ha moment--I let go of demanding that life be predictable, easy, peaceful. Such a relief! I decided to make my New Year's resolution be about welcoming change with a willing heart. If you want to join me in this, here are some helpful ways to proceed.

Elizabeth Lesser is the cofounder of Omega Institute and the author of "Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow."

Expect Change
Since we live in a changing universe, expect change. Good change, difficult change, destructive change, transformative change.

Make Friends With Change
Try not to fight change. Make unconditional friendship with it, in whatever form it arrives.

Relax Into the Mystery
There is so much more to this life than we can ever understand through our tiny brains and fearful hearts.

So in times of big change, it's good to be gentle and kind and patient with yourself. And to relax. The best peacemakers are those who are at peace with themselves.

Receive Change's Message
Be still and listen deeply for the truth that is carried on its winds--information about the past, wisdom about the present, and direction for the future.

Come Alive
Join forces with the dynamic flow of life. The African-American theologian Howard Thurman said: "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive."

And so, as the old year changes into the New Year, ask what makes you come alive, and then go do it--for your own sake, and in service of the greater good.

MY THOUGHTS

destructive change? like tearing the whole house down so you can build a new, much better one? i kept thinking back to the many changes i've had in my life.i've had good changes, difficult ones, changes that changed me. i must say, its the destructive changes that truly transfoms us. the change that breaks you,that pulls you to the ground. the change that makes you start all over again. the change that makes you come alive. reborn into a new life. ready. accepting. actually looking for change. i'm sure the new year will be full of changes. just like the past ones. and i don't mind. it can get scary. it's hard to let go sometimes. especially if you can't find the reasons why. i learned how to accept change when i learned how to trust. i 've come to trust my Creator for all the changes in my ilfe. He knows best. He changes best.