When everything changes…change everything

(CA, a non-native English speaker, wrote a very long letter, and I am excerpting some of her content for the advice column.)

CA, I understand that the real purpose of your letter was to get some answers to some of the larger questions of the day, centering around how the world is going to change with so much resistance to change.  That is a subject that I could speak to you about, one-on-one, extensively, but for the purposes of an Advice Column, I am going to focus on something else…how you are feeling about these things.

CA, you used the words below as part of your description of the events the world is experiencing today:

“.. as it is not part of my personality to engage in such conversations simply by fear of being categorized as illuminated or dangerous-

Reactions are strong…resistance…doubt…catastrophe…vicious circle…how?…

I feel very different from others in terms of convictions reactions behaviors since  early age so I stay discrete to avoid discrimination.”

CA, I would like you to know that you are certainly not alone in feeling different.  You are not alone in feeling afraid and confused, and you are not alone in resisting change.  This is what our egos do to protect ourselves.  We stop having the conversations we really want to have because we are afraid of what other people think.  Attachment to family and friends is natural and strong. We are told, culturally, through religion and education, and in many more ways, that it is not possible and not proper for us to do anything that isn’t already acceptable. The problem is, when we do this, we ignore what we think.  I know it has been said so many times before, but loving ourselves is what comes first.  If we want to speak of things that could change the world into a better place, and don’t, we are depriving ourselves of our own voice, and depriving the world of the wisdom that just might have changed the world.   One voice really can do just that…change the world.

Yes, it seems dramatic, but imagine if Jesus had kept silent, or the Buddha, or Gandhi, or Nelson Mandella…each only one voice, heard eventually by many.

“I also read with great enthusiasm his article after election in your country as I am deeply convinced that if we do not share and care for the rest of the mankind and continue to build our society around the concept of separation we won’t go anywhere but to violence and despair for the majority of us. I read today that some readers accused him of mixing a spiritual role with politics, yet I think that this is exactly where we need to start as  society organization is today ruled by the economic and political sphere.”

CA, see, you already know what you believe!  Now you get to choose to voice it or not.  It might not even be true that people will reject your ideas, as they did in the past.  It has been my experience that when I speak my truth, and speak it with kindness, as CWG suggests, I rarely get opposition…I may not get agreement, but I do not get opposition.  People do, however, walk away willing to think about what I have just shared with them.  I often find that others really do feel the same way I do, but are also afraid to speak what they really feel.

I would suggest, also, that you be certain to understand that we are all doing the best we can, given the information we have about things.  When we know better, we do better.  One of the reasons we feel upset, after we know better, is that we think it is unfair that we have to behave better than everyone else!  It feels like quite a burden to be different than others…but I would suggest something else.  It might just be a burden lifted not having to be false to yourself.  Telling your own truth is actually incredibly liberating.

“My understanding after all my readings is  that God sent us these Angels to allow us to experience what we have chosen to feel . But if I experience resistance, calomny , if I keep losing my job for unrational reasons with huge fear of financial precarity , how can I engage in changing the world with discussions?”

Now, CA, you also get the chance to change your mind about how you feel about these things, and change your experience of them!  In “When Everything Changes, Change Everything,” it tells a little story about a rainy day, and how the same event can be experienced in very different ways.  Rain for the parade organizer was a disaster.  Rain for the farmer was a blessing!  Might these things in your life that are now calamities be viewed as opportunities?  Might they be you, on a soul level, asking you to reexamine your life, and your priorities?

I know this sounds very cavalier, CA, and I know how frightening all of the life events you describe can be, but you do get to choose whether or not you are the parade organizer or the farmer.  This column will certainly not give you all of the answers you seek, but, hopefully it will give you some things to think about in your journey of finding your own answers.

I believe that who we are in this world, and how we conduct our lives in this world, really does affect our world in ways that we will never understand.  I believe we must never deny our own voice, when it speaks our own truth, and that we all get to decide what that is.

CA, if you haven’t already read the book “When Everything Changes, Change Everything,” I would recommend you do.  It can be read for free on the website listed below.  This book gives practical tools on how to change how we go through change.   It also has forums where you can discuss the book in relation to yourself and your journey.

This world is sure changing like crazy right now, and the only thing we can really change is how we are in relation to that change.  You, however, are not alone, CA, in your journey through these times.

Therese

(Therese Wilson is the administrator of the global website at www.ChangingChange.net, which offers spiritual assistance from a team of Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less, and offers insight, suggestions, and companionship during moments of unbidden, unexpected, unwelcome change on the journey of life. She may be contacted at Therese@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

(If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com, where our team is waiting to hear from you.)