“No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”
-Heraclitus

How do you feel about change? Do you love the adventure of it? Or do you fear it, feeling safer if things stay pretty much the same? Do you struggle to maintain the status quo in your life, opting for security rather than the open window of change? A lot of us do. Yet change happens. It’s part of life. Every day you’re a different person and things are changing all around you. How do you deal with that?

 If life’s inevitable changes feel scary to you, this might help.
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This morning I woke before dawn, intending to get up early, but one more minute of warm comfort led to the next and I stayed in bed. Lying on my back, legs outstretched, I fell into that luxurious state in which I don’t really feel my body. My thoughts drifted.

I focused attention upon my breath, just breathing in and out.  The thought came that God is ever moving, like the breath, like the air all around us. God is like the ocean, ever changing, ever the same. You can watch the ocean every day for a lifetime and it will be different every day, you will see different things every day. Yet it is always the ocean.

Another idea came in and I saw an image of a rainbow-colored slick of oil on water, constantly in motion, ever changing its design, yet always the same in its changeability. You can look at one small section of it and it looks different every time. But if you look at the whole, it is the same in its constant variability.

The only constant is change and so, as sparks of God, our lives are filled with change. That is where the expansion, growth and learning take place.  Our smaller selves look for things to stay the same, wanting to stay safe and secure. We may even convince ourselves that the devil we know is safer than the angel we do not. Yet there is no growth, no expansion in the comfort zone of safety and security.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Alphonse Karr
 
Just as the ocean is always the ocean, even as the waves move constantly, the color shifts from grey to blue to turquoise to black, the surface roils in white frothed violence one day and undulates gently another, and the life therein thrives and dies, so our daily lives change constantly. Yet our essence, our soul, is eternal. That then must be the way to navigate change with grace, flow and ease, by focusing on the eternal soul, the constancy of God and Spirit.

That idea does sound good. But how do we actually do that when we are shoved unwilling out of our cozy, comfort zones by the inevitable changes that rampage through our lives?

Your beliefs and attitudes concerning change naturally affect how you experience change. Having beliefs and attitudes that support you can make all the difference the next time scary change blows through your life. 

If you find that flowing with the inevitable change in your life is difficult, take a look at your beliefs concerning change. Do they support you? If not, consider where you may make a few adjustments. Check out today’s Spiritual Toolbox for some suggestions.

The Pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus said, “Life is flux,” meaning that all things in life change. That is to say, the only constant thing in life is change. Knowing this, it makes sense for each of us to create a personal belief system that supports us through the changes, large and small, giving us the resilience of a flexible palm tree weathering each storm that passes through.

Photo by Fernando Brasil on Unsplash
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“Every flower blooms at its own pace.”
-Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
 
“Run when you can. Walk when you have to. Crawl if you must. Just never give up.”
-Dean Karazes
 
Spiritual-development is a funny thing. We zoom along like the hare in that famous race, or we waddle like the tortoise. Sometimes we even flounder like a tortoise over on its back. Because we are both the hare and the tortoise the race is only with ourselves.
 
Which one we express today is directly related to the fear that we carry with us like a heavy shell upon our back. When we carry that weight of fear and try to control all the different aspects of our lives we waddle and flounder like the tortoise. If we let go of our need to control, we can run like the hare. Either way we get to where we need to go. We grow and develop spiritually.
 
Most people run sometimes and waddle other times. Don’t worry about it, and don’t try to control your controlling, because then you will be trying to control yourself from trying to control your self-development. What? Confusing isn’t it? Don’t go there.
 
Just breathe and leave the driving to God.
 
When fear comes up and you feel the need to control, just be aware of that. You may need the experience of tortoise-ing along for a while. Sooner or later your fear will dissipate and you’ll be able to run again. If you choose you can support yourself using the spiritual tools in your toolbox.
 
Either way you will get there. Either way is OK. You are learning and growing. Love the process. Love yourself throughout the process for you are braver and grander than you can imagine! 

“All shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
-Julian of Norwich
 
“Surrender, surrender, let go of the struggle.”
-Red Feather
           
When I lived in New Hampshire, by January the winter ice build-up on my driveway was prodigious. I was out daily hacking and digging at the thick ice, progressing through an inch at a time. First creating potholes, then small cleared patches, then larger cleared areas. There is a feeling of satisfaction as the cleared area enlarges, I know, I did it for years, until one year I didn’t. That year, I spread sand and waited. In two months, the warming sun of spring took care of the ice. It gradually warmed the inches of frozen water to return it to its former formless state, and I didn’t have to do anything but enjoy the process. Nature was infinitely more efficient than my ice chipper.
 
My struggle with the ice on my driveway was much like my struggle with life. I worked hard at life. I tended to struggle over things that if I just let go, they would have taken care of themselves. I struggled with myself, wanting to be more, better. I struggled with my loved ones wanting them to be different than they were. I struggled at work, thinking that I could never quite be good enough. And day by day I was out there in my driveway chipping away at the ice, until finally one day I didn’t. Day by day I struggled with my life, until finally one day… Nope, still do,  sigh, though not nearly as often or as deeply as I used to.
 
Our lives can become encased in ice, frozen, slippery, seemingly a danger. We live fearfully. We struggle and chip away to remove that uncomfortable fear. Perhaps though that icing of fear is just a normal part of the cycle of life here in this world. Perhaps if we trust in the process of our growth the cycle will turn and that warm sun of trust will melt away our fear. Perhaps we have only to apply a little sand, trust and wait. God will do the rest.

​Many of us have areas in our lives that we feel should change, and we struggle over how we are not enough. But what if we decided to let go of the struggle? What if we decided that we are perfect for this moment? What if we decided that our lives, our homes, our families and friends, jobs, surroundings are just as they should be for this moment, a part of God’s Plan? What if we let the ice in our lives be just as it is? What if we allow ourselves to sprinkle a little sand and wait? In time the ice will be gone whether we struggle with it or not. Perhaps we can choose to let go of the struggle and trust.
 
Photo by alessandra fiorani on Unsplash