how to let go of your resistance to change

You say you want to change the world? To change how society works? How the economic system works? That’s awesome. Congratulations. What else did you plan on changing this year? It’s almost autumn now, what resolutions did you make ten months ago? How is that going? If you are like most people you have ditched your resolutions by January 17th. If you are like most people you are back at where you started. Don’t be most people. Turn that change that you love to talk about into reality. There is tons of awesome advice on how to change. We resist change due to our hardwired brains that became habits that - worst case - don’t serve us or the planet. What’s rarely talked about is the pain change brings if we do decide to go through with it. Think of a time when you went through with a resolution. You were doing great for two weeks and all of a sudden something was pulling you back. Back to your old ways of thinking and acting.

What happened?

For one, because your body and mind aren’t used to it, it’s unfamiliar and feels unsafe. The old is safe. Even if it doesn’t serve you. It has kept you alive, so in every cell, in your body, the information is stored as SAFE. The second thing is that change can be soooo uncomfortable and lead to a lot of pain. Your old way of being was part of a life you created. Of a community, of a job, of a routine. If you change one thing, it might be, that everything else doesn’t hold true anymore. That your new you doesn’t get along with your old friends. That your new you feels unfulfilled in the old job that you were working to get half your life. That you see your spouse in a new light that is not attractive to you. On the system level, a change in one thing might let the whole system collapse. What will happen if we don’t measure a countries worth on economic growth. The whole system, that we know, that we (in the industrialized world) consider safe, might become obsolete. Worlds might crash. The change can physically hurt. And this is the crucial point.

Decisions

Do you go back to your old you? Or do you go through with it? What will it be? Mostly we - unconsciously - go with the first option. And down it goes…. And the old keeps up…. And the new… adieu…. We talk about change all the time. But we despise it. On an individual level, concerning our very own lives. And on a system level… How are we supposed to change a whole system, that is even more complex. That consists of thousands and millions of change-despising people if we can’t even change that one person, that is ourselves.

Conclusion

If you truly, really, honestly want change, you need to let go of the resistance. You need to find the awareness and consciousness that it takes to become a hybrid for change. To go through with it, no matter what it takes. Friends, partners, jobs, status. all those things that you are so connected to. If you have the ability to let go, you can make true change happen. For yourseld. For the world.