Change is one of those Yin/Yang words. Just thinking of change has the power to initiate thoughts of fear, loss or unease. Reframed, the concept might be exciting, rich with opportunity, at the very least different but potentially better. The Yang version might be drive or struggle while the Yin side might be flow and process. In any event, change – something different – is often just around the corner.

All one needs to do to find words of wisdom encouraging change, is to use that search engine and have at it! Surely your favorite writer(s) have said something wonderful about change – often counseling the reader to begin with one’s attitude. There seems to be a moral imperative to change as life moves on and maturity comes to the party. And, as with Yin and Yang, balance is crucial.

Change signals positivity. My favorite sweatshirt, a gift from someone who knows me well, reads “Eternal Optimist.” (Spiritual Gangster) It is both a gift and a mandate to be eternally optimistic – a characteristic that must be utilized wisely to meet and temper life’s many struggles and grief.

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”  Eckhart Tolle

Each January 1^st I decide on a word for the year. I begin to explore words and how they might be woven into my intention for an entire year. Repeatedly in recent weeks the word CHANGE has come across my radar. So, CHANGE it is for 2024.  TBH I prefer the word EVOLVE. To evolve suggests taking time, changing gradually, and perhaps, significantly, changing from simple to complex, from lesser to greater, growth.  In my mind, gradual change, taking time to develop, suggests doing so with minimal stress and maybe even with a confidence and sense of purpose that sudden change prohibits. No matter, CHANGE works.

Change is a privilege. I recognize that. In my own experience I have been practicing small steps of change in order to protect and grow my personal fitness physically, creatively and spiritually. I made sometimes painful decisions to step back from roles that I had played for years but, when honest, knew that they were no longer serving me and, more importantly, I was no longer playing those roles with integrity – I was no longer serving those with whom I was connected. For me it takes courage to search my soul, so to speak, and then to deal with what honesty has uncovered.

Since Covid, (how often do we mark time with those words – since Covid…?) many of us have reconnected with family and friends. Zoom gave us a platform to shift our personal and professional lives. As months have passed, many of us have needed to shift again. We learn, we gain, we lose, we ebb, we flow. We change. And if we don’t…?

“Life is about growth and change. When you are no longer doing that – that is your whisper; that is your whisper that you are supposed to do something else.”  Oprah Winfrey

Earlier I used the word REFRAME. What a lovely tool! In the midst of turmoil, it is admittedly difficult to pause, to reframe the situation, the decision, the dilemma. But to do so often brings about a natural resolution or, at the least, turns our faces towards the sun.

There is genius to impulse. Sometimes. Often, however, impulse forces backtracking and rebuilding. Or perhaps that is what the impulse was meant to do. Is it creativity that makes us spring for the “meant to be” next step? Oh to discern the difference between creativity and foolishness. To evolve gradually just might do the trick. And, as so often is the case, I suggest that there is space in our lives for all of it!

As Meister Eckhart famously wrote:  “And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

May you trust the magic of your own beginning in 2024. I am grateful for each and every one of you and wish you health, happiness and love in the new year. I also wish you a word that speaks to you. A Word for the Year is a nice companion with which to begin.

 

Happy New Year from Sophie, Lizzie and me