Embracing Change
Sarah Rehfuss Bastian
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash
“As I remove the clutter from my life, I free myself to answer the callings of my soul.”
This has been my mantra for the past month as I have worked passionately on transforming every area of my life. What began as an attempt to get our home ready to sell has turned into a complete life-changing hunt for “clutter” and ways to organize or eliminate it permanently from my life. I thought at first that it would be easy and I would immediately feel freer and more open. I realized, though, as I sat amongst a pile of papers and memories that letting go of the old and welcoming in the new might be harder than I expected. Change is not something we are taught as a culture to embrace, and I am no exception. The mere mention of the word change causes some to dig their heels in and staunchly say, “I don’t need to change anything.” Perhaps it is the comfort we feel in knowing what comes next and that everything is stable and secure. Upon closer examination, however, transformation is happening all the time, both in and around us. These changes steadily move us into the future regardless of our attempt to prevent it. We may not be able to stop the momentum of change, but we do have a choice in the direction we want it to take us.
I felt I first needed to understand change more. I watched my children to see how they handled change, because children are often more in-tune with the rhythms of their lives than adults are. I was surprised to see them deal so eloquently with change in their day-to-day life. It was inspiring, as I continued my observation, to notice how easily they embraced the idea that life is fluid and ever-changing. Their play often shifts from a picnic, to a lemonade stand, to a baseball game with various friends all in one day! They instinctually know that change is imminent and to fight the natural flow of life would be much harder than to just surrender to it.
As I enjoyed their play, Laura Numeroff’s popular children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, came to mind. As suggested by the title, the book begins with the child offering a cookie to the mouse, who in turn realizes he needs a glass of milk to go with it. Drinking the milk reminds the mouse of something else, and so the story progresses. In the end, he is thirsty again and needs a glass of milk; he won’t drink his milk without a cookie to go with it, so the story ends right back where it began. It illustrates in an elementary and entertaining way that everything in life is connected. The Rebbe once said, “If you really want to change the world, change yourself! It’s like dropping a stone into a pool of water and watching the concentric circles radiate to the shore. You will influence all the people around you, and they will influence others in turn. That’s how you bring about improvement in the world.” The Rebbe’s wisdom encouraged me to realize the importance of seeing my life and all its events and experiences as related. I wondered if the concept of change wouldn’t be so difficult if we all began to see that vital connection between everything in our life. We could then look back over the years and see how certain changes that we lived through helped us to become the people we are today.
Over the years many fields of science have proven that we are truly dynamic beings. Every second of the day, thousands of chemical and energetic reactions that are divinely entwined occur simultaneously to allow the ongoing evolution of our physical bodies. Since the founding of the non-profit International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine in the 1980s, advances in energetic medicine have taken our connection to the world a step further. Peter Fraser, founder of the Nutri-Energetic System, discusses this in Decoding the Human Body-Field.
The Human Body Field (HBF) can be summarized as an information field that permeates our body, integrating and coordinating our physical, chemical, emotional, mental, energetic, and memory aspects to form our living, conscious being. It is involved with maintaining life processes, rebuilding the body and healing…The HBF is dynamic, intelligent and reacts to changes in its environment…In fact the HBF is the master control mechanism for all body process ranging from nutrient absorption to mental processing.
Realizing that we are ever-changing and interacting with our environments helped me to see the value in letting go and surrendering to the flow of change that is happening both in and around us all of the time.
My next step was to evaluate change in my life. I began to look back at my life as a journey, and, as I did, I saw the larger picture. The choices I made and the changes I encountered made me the person I am today. I also saw that without those changes, (even those that were frightening at the time), I wouldn’t be writing this article and living the life I do today. Seeing the overall purpose of change in my life helped me more readily integrate the belief that everyone and every experience has a lesson to bring me and works together in the grand design of life. It was astounding to think about this outside of just a personal level. Not only is my physical, energetic body and personal story dynamic, but so is everyone else’s! They are all so intricately interwoven to create the tapestry of our lives.
After that, my discovery of change took me back to my pile of papers and memories. Armed with the understanding and purpose of change in my life, I could now move on to creating space for change. I found out that change can be more stressful when you have no room for it in your life. By creating space for change you are honoring and acknowledging the purpose it serves. I had already begun work in my physical space, but I delved deeper into the reasons for obstacles there by examining my mental, emotional and spiritual space. Studying books on feng shui, an ancient Chinese art and science that helps to balance the energy of any given space, helped me to deepen my search. In many instances, the clutter filling my mind, emotion, and spirit had manifested somewhere in my physical space (as either a bodily symptom or an accumulation of physical clutter). To remove some of these intangible blockages, I used meditation and visualization. I noticed that as I began to picture myself and my space as open and inviting, the difficulties standing in the way began to shift and disappear.
Once I understood, evaluated, and created space for it, I was finally able to embrace change when it arrived. I learned that by celebrating change, you allow it to move you effortlessly forward toward the callings of your soul, as my children still do. In When Everything Changes, Change Everything, Neale Donald Walsch asserted, “Change is an announcement of Life’s intention to go on. Change is the fundamental impulse of Life itself.” Change is not stressful when we recognize how essential it is to our lives. Tonight, I no longer sit in the midst of piles and papers but am able to peacefully meditate by candlelight in a space unhindered by clutter to my new mantra: “In embracing change, I free myself to answer the callings of my soul.”
I felt I first needed to understand change more. I watched my children to see how they handled change, because children are often more in-tune with the rhythms of their lives than adults are. I was surprised to see them deal so eloquently with change in their day-to-day life. It was inspiring, as I continued my observation, to notice how easily they embraced the idea that life is fluid and ever-changing. Their play often shifts from a picnic, to a lemonade stand, to a baseball game with various friends all in one day! They instinctually know that change is imminent and to fight the natural flow of life would be much harder than to just surrender to it.
As I enjoyed their play, Laura Numeroff’s popular children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, came to mind. As suggested by the title, the book begins with the child offering a cookie to the mouse, who in turn realizes he needs a glass of milk to go with it. Drinking the milk reminds the mouse of something else, and so the story progresses. In the end, he is thirsty again and needs a glass of milk; he won’t drink his milk without a cookie to go with it, so the story ends right back where it began. It illustrates in an elementary and entertaining way that everything in life is connected. The Rebbe once said, “If you really want to change the world, change yourself! It’s like dropping a stone into a pool of water and watching the concentric circles radiate to the shore. You will influence all the people around you, and they will influence others in turn. That’s how you bring about improvement in the world.” The Rebbe’s wisdom encouraged me to realize the importance of seeing my life and all its events and experiences as related. I wondered if the concept of change wouldn’t be so difficult if we all began to see that vital connection between everything in our life. We could then look back over the years and see how certain changes that we lived through helped us to become the people we are today.
Over the years many fields of science have proven that we are truly dynamic beings. Every second of the day, thousands of chemical and energetic reactions that are divinely entwined occur simultaneously to allow the ongoing evolution of our physical bodies. Since the founding of the non-profit International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine in the 1980s, advances in energetic medicine have taken our connection to the world a step further. Peter Fraser, founder of the Nutri-Energetic System, discusses this in Decoding the Human Body-Field.
The Human Body Field (HBF) can be summarized as an information field that permeates our body, integrating and coordinating our physical, chemical, emotional, mental, energetic, and memory aspects to form our living, conscious being. It is involved with maintaining life processes, rebuilding the body and healing…The HBF is dynamic, intelligent and reacts to changes in its environment…In fact the HBF is the master control mechanism for all body process ranging from nutrient absorption to mental processing.
Realizing that we are ever-changing and interacting with our environments helped me to see the value in letting go and surrendering to the flow of change that is happening both in and around us all of the time.
My next step was to evaluate change in my life. I began to look back at my life as a journey, and, as I did, I saw the larger picture. The choices I made and the changes I encountered made me the person I am today. I also saw that without those changes, (even those that were frightening at the time), I wouldn’t be writing this article and living the life I do today. Seeing the overall purpose of change in my life helped me more readily integrate the belief that everyone and every experience has a lesson to bring me and works together in the grand design of life. It was astounding to think about this outside of just a personal level. Not only is my physical, energetic body and personal story dynamic, but so is everyone else’s! They are all so intricately interwoven to create the tapestry of our lives.
After that, my discovery of change took me back to my pile of papers and memories. Armed with the understanding and purpose of change in my life, I could now move on to creating space for change. I found out that change can be more stressful when you have no room for it in your life. By creating space for change you are honoring and acknowledging the purpose it serves. I had already begun work in my physical space, but I delved deeper into the reasons for obstacles there by examining my mental, emotional and spiritual space. Studying books on feng shui, an ancient Chinese art and science that helps to balance the energy of any given space, helped me to deepen my search. In many instances, the clutter filling my mind, emotion, and spirit had manifested somewhere in my physical space (as either a bodily symptom or an accumulation of physical clutter). To remove some of these intangible blockages, I used meditation and visualization. I noticed that as I began to picture myself and my space as open and inviting, the difficulties standing in the way began to shift and disappear.
Once I understood, evaluated, and created space for it, I was finally able to embrace change when it arrived. I learned that by celebrating change, you allow it to move you effortlessly forward toward the callings of your soul, as my children still do. In When Everything Changes, Change Everything, Neale Donald Walsch asserted, “Change is an announcement of Life’s intention to go on. Change is the fundamental impulse of Life itself.” Change is not stressful when we recognize how essential it is to our lives. Tonight, I no longer sit in the midst of piles and papers but am able to peacefully meditate by candlelight in a space unhindered by clutter to my new mantra: “In embracing change, I free myself to answer the callings of my soul.”
Resources
Fraser, Peter. “The Human Body-Field.” 2007. Nutri-Energetic Systems. Viewed August 14, 2009.
http://www.nutrienergetics.com/tech-hbf.html
Walsch, Neale Donald. When Everything Changes, Change Everything. Hampton Roads Publishing. 2009.
Zacks, Gordon. “Where Change Begins.” 2006. Excerpted from his book Defining Moments. Viewed August 14, 2009. www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/523955/jewish/Where-Change-Begins.htm
First printed in Inner Vision Magazine September 2009. Reprinted here with permission from InnerVision Magazine. www.innervisionmagazine.com
Fraser, Peter. “The Human Body-Field.” 2007. Nutri-Energetic Systems. Viewed August 14, 2009.
http://www.nutrienergetics.com/tech-hbf.html
Walsch, Neale Donald. When Everything Changes, Change Everything. Hampton Roads Publishing. 2009.
Zacks, Gordon. “Where Change Begins.” 2006. Excerpted from his book Defining Moments. Viewed August 14, 2009. www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/523955/jewish/Where-Change-Begins.htm
First printed in Inner Vision Magazine September 2009. Reprinted here with permission from InnerVision Magazine. www.innervisionmagazine.com