Today's Meditation:

I believe, from having observed many people and their actions, that this is an idea that frightens most people.  After all, we're quite comfortable being who we are.  We know what we believe, what we like, what we don't like, how we react.  And knowing those things is somewhat comfortable, even when those things may be negative and self-destructive.  I have met many self-destructive people who refuse to change anything about themselves because they're so afraid of becoming someone else and losing the comfort of the status quo.

But another "I" can always be beginning, no matter who we are and no matter what we do.  If we're open to learning and to change, then we can constantly be reinventing ourselves in ways that are positive and uplifting and that can make a major difference in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones.  George says that "the old woman" she becomes will be different, but for me, I fully expect the me of one year from now to be significantly different from the me of today.  Because today I learned a lot and tomorrow I'll learn even more, and I truly hope to learn from those lessons and allow them to have a strong effect on me.

This is one of the reasons for which I have a hard time understanding when people hold grudges-- the someone who did something bad to me ten years ago is now a different person, or should be.  So why be angry at that person, when it was a younger version of him or her who actually did what they did?

For me personally, I find it a challenge to adopt new thoughts and ideas and ways of being.  It doesn't always work, of course.  I still have a hard time not creating a messy work area once I start working, which is something that I have been trying to change.  On the other hand, I'm more accepting of my messiness, so in a way I am a different person after all, no?  And if I want to die a wiser and more balanced and more compassionate and kinder person, then I really do need to start today and allow myself to look for, find, and accept positive changes in my life.

Questions to consider:

What's so frightening about changing who we are and what we think?

In what ways might we go about looking for and finding areas in our lives that are ripe for change?

Do you want to be exactly the way you are now when you're older?

For further thought:

Development can indeed continue beyond childhood and youth, beyond the seventies.  It can continue until the very end of life, given purposes that challenge and use our human abilities. . . . In sum, our development does not necessarily end at any age.  We can continue to develop into our eighties, even to our nineties.

Betty Friedan

more thoughts and ideas on change

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