Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: Change Needed!

Today I want to talk about all of you brave souls coping with change, and the stress that is created by the actual event of change. So many people will avoid change in order not to experience any kind of anxiety or stress. The problem with that is that often people in my office will express a deep dissatisfaction with their lives, because they have not changed the various things they need to change in their lives, so they stagnate and stagnate, staying in relationships that are way overdue, staying in jobs that are not satisfying, or staying in situations that are not good for them, or even harmful to them. But they say, “I would rather stay in this very clearly emotionally, sometimes physically, harmful situation, rather than risk change.” And I see it so often as the source of profound unhappiness. And I hear you! I am a human being, and I understand that change creates immense stress. In fact, some of the forefathers of my profession would agree that some of the biggest reasons for stress are change, so people avoid it.
What I find to be a key way for people to cope well with change is to employ a simple spiritual principle of being in the moment. What the mind does is ask, “What if this happens? What if that happens? What if I fail? What if I'm uncomfortable? What if I'm in pain? What if!” What if's are the paralyzer. They keep you from doing what your soul is craving. Clearly, dissatisfaction is the mother of change, the thing that motivates people to change. But people numb out to the dissatisfaction with drugs, or not being present, and they stay in situations that don't work for them. What ends up happening is that they're not happy with their lives, and they're not conscious of why. Be present and in the moment. Stay focused on the now. Put one foot in front of the other. Track your thoughts so that you don't let those thoughts get out of control. Allow yourself to make a small change, hold, assess, continue to make the next change, hold, assess, and you'll find you'll get to the other side very healthily, emotionally together, if you do it in a very clear, calm and present moment-oriented way. And I always recommend affirmations, meditation, deep breathing, so that you do serve your soul and go toward your life purpose, which inevitably is going to need change to accomplish that. Good luck with all the changes happening in your lives, because I'm telling you, right now I do believe the planets are aligned and people are ready for change!