Change, Change, Change

Sometimes you need a change of pace. To surround yourself in a new environment to help spark something new within yourself. So it might not seem out of the ordinary that I wanted to spend my time today writing in an ordinary coffee shop, sipping on an ordinary London Fog as ordinary people walk by outside in the November sunshine. However I believe that small changes can have a big impact on people. Sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops in my home city makes me feel better because I'm surrounding myself in a space where I feel good, happy, and at home (although It probably doesn't help that my friends are working here today). I'm uncertain that writing in a new space will spark any new creative energy in my brain. But it doesn't hurt to put yourself in a place where you are open to something new. And maybe that is the topic of my writing today: change. Or if you're David Bowie (RIP), "ch-ch-ch-changes"...I'll stop now.

Change has a few different meanings according to the dictionary. As a verb, change means to make or become different. As a noun, change means the act of instance of making or becoming different. However you feel about change it is something that is going to happen whether you want it to or not. And that is something that I've learned a lot over the years. I cannot stop change. I can try to ignore it, but the more I embrace the change around me and in me I become a much happier person. I ignored change for a while because I wanted the environment around me to last. It might come back to my trust issues and the idea that if something is lasting then I can put my faith and trust in it. But regardless of whatever I foolishly thought, the world around me is changing every second of every minute. Seasons, situations, nature, the structure of cities, even the structure of my writing and the style changes depending on the topic. Yes, it's understandable that EVERYTHING changes. So what about it? What is so important about changing?

If nothing changed, nothing new would grow. Growing is an important step in the renewal of a living breathing creation. New trees give new life and change to a habitat. A snake sheds old skin for new skin to become a new creature. Nature teaches humanity that changing and growing are healthy for new things to form. So why do we hold onto our old dead shell of who we were? Because when our skin is exposed to a changing atmosphere, it hurts. And that is my situation. As I've shed the old me off and started to embrace the new me, it has been a painful broken process. But a beautiful process as well. I've learned that there is beauty in the change that I'm embracing. I've learned which people in my life are worth investing relationships in. I've learned that I'm a strong person even in my most weak times. I've learned that my broken pieces will heal into something beautiful if I let the process teach me along the way. And I've learned the things I need to let go of and let the Divine take care of that I can't control.

Language can also have a changing effect on the environment as well. If you speak something enough it becomes internalized in your mind and soul. We know this through our societies emphasis on the word love. But what if we looked at the word change the same way. What if "change" was an exciting word full of positive beauty and hope? In many languages we have the ability to use different words to describe the intensity of something. But in some languages, like Hebrew, they do not. Why do I bring Hebrew into this? Well, in the Old Testament, the most remembered word repeated to emphasize the important of that word is, "Holy Holy Holy". It tells the reader and believer that God is the most Holiest of all. Therefore it is an important word full of meaning. Maybe we could use that idea for the word change. Repeating change over and over in our minds making the intensity of the word important, and reminding us that change is GOOD! Change. Is. Good.

What can you take away from this? What could my change teach you? When you embrace change you will become the person that better fits who you are. You will become someone better, wiser, bolder, happier. But you have to let yourself become it. We know the saying, be the change you want to be. I would challenge one (and myself!) to go beyond that. Look at change with a lens of renewal and excitement. With an open mind and heart. Whether you're soaring up into some adventure, or walking through the valleys of painful yet beautiful healing, take the word change with you. And let the beauty of change print onto your soul so that when you keep changing you remember that the process is important. And like the Hebrews emphasized with their language, good things come in threes: Change, change, change.