Can Change Be Easier?

When I take a step back from all that is happening right now – the dangers and the drama – I have to marvel at how difficult we have made it to change anything. It is worth taking a look to see why that is. Even if you are sensitive and many sensitive people do not like change, we have to ask if we can make change easier.

The Threat Of Threats

It seems, however, that despite all that has been accomplished in the human world, we still seem to react to change in a volatile way. So often, change is treated as a threat, and since our threat monitors work overtime, the constant narrative we hear is about new threats. There are good reasons for this, but they need to be examined.

We have long left the hunter-gatherer phase of our human journey, but our psyches’ have not caught up. In fact, by not adjusting how we think about change and threat, we are doing ourselves a lot of harm.

The Past Lives In Us

There are many examples of people who live by past ideas of how “things should be” and who are hurting others. We see this in all forms of discrimination and coercion used to keep people in their place.

I have personally experienced a lot of negativity because of living in a way that is not traditional. My experience is mild compared to the experiences of people in Iran, Ukraine, and other countries who challenge the ideas and orders of conservative leaders. It is the nature of authoritarians to still the voices of citizens and demand total compliance with their rule.

Authoritarians create safety by enforcing strict rules that keep people in line. They create a punitive climate that prevents their citizens from offering their gifts to the family, community, or country. They believe that people are essentially bad and need those kinds of controls. That has certainly been my experience. As a result, people are taught they are bad or defective. It’s amazing how much effort has to be expended to change the mistaken belief (which has been around for many centuries) that people are bad.

It is time to stop treating people so poorly and then complaining about the results we get.

Let’s Stop Assuming Others Always Know Better And Develop Our Own Authority.

The universe is intelligent, which means that all life in the universe is intelligent, also. Therefore, each one of us is intelligent; it is natural and intrinsic in us. One of our biggest needs, then, is to develop wisdom.

Next, explain in detail how. What steps should they take? What new skills do they need to learn? If they’re going to stop living life believing in this myth, give them a path forward.

Here are some ideas to help:

Tip #1: Recognize that old ideas about good and bad are limited. Old beliefs are developed based on the knowledge of the times. The idea that people are bad was created centuries ago. Notice how much good has been created – it refutes the idea that humans are bad.

Tip #2: A gratitude practice works wonders. If you want to see the good in the world, a gratitude practice forces you to notice things you take for granted. Still, more importantly, it helps you appreciate the generosity of our ancestors, who helped us get as far as we have, and the intelligence behind what has been created. We are all smarter than we know.

Tip #3: Look for intelligence at work. Intelligence and change are related. Change is not always a catastrophe. it can be a chance to rebalance, a way to develop new skills, and a way to learn better ways of using resources. Change can invite all sorts of improvements.

The more we embrace our intelligence, the intelligence of others, and the intelligence of the universe, the easier it is to take a fresh look at change to see what good wants to emerge. Closing the door on possibility is not a smart way to handle change. Inviting change as a gift and opportunity makes it easier to work with the universe’s unfolding and feel supported even when change seems overwhelming.

The best thing you can do is embrace your own intelligence and change as simply another form of intelligence at work. Make change your friend. Life is better that way.