It only takes a moment, for everything to change
"Nothing changes, yet everything changes in a single moment of realisation"
(from The Way of the Peaceful Warrior)
It is that simple.
A single moment.
Many of us spend years and years, or even a lifetime, trying to change things. We live in the illusion that change requires force and effort and the bigger the change the harder we need to push. When in fact the opposite is how it really works.
It's an upside down perspective and, I don't know about you, but it is not the way I thought the world worked for a very long time!
"Surely, if I don't try hard nothing will happen?"
"If we don't DO something nothing will change"
Our desire to control combined with our fear of not being in control drives this urge to put in more and more effort to creating things the way we want them to be. We strive, we fight, we work hard, we put in lots of hours, we sacrifice.....
Until one day, when we run out of energy, or we hit up against yet another brick wall and we find ourselves back at square one. At that point we start to see that our approach isn't working.
And in that moment, everything changes.
That moment of realisation, epiphany, insight, moment of clarity, the aha moment, when things drop into place – whatever you choose to call it – happens in an instant and it happens when we stop efforting (not sure that's a real word but you get my meaning!).
The reason many of us don't believe it is that simple is that we believe change comes from what we do, when in fact change comes from who we're being. We look for the change to show up in some way on the outside as a result of our actions. We want the world to look different, the people in it to be different, the shape and form of our surroundings to be different. But the realisation that our efforting is not bringing us the outcome we want is a moment when things really start to change, and it happens on the inside first.
However, many of us miss it. We are so busy looking outside and caught up in our heads trying to work everything out.
When we need to be doing the exact opposite.
Like Archimedes and his Eureka! moment, a problem, question or challenge that we’ve been battling with for a long time can suddenly shift and the answer, the way forward becomes clear. (Perhaps taking a bath is the way to go!).
Wherever it happens for you, it is about creating the conditions to enable it to happen more often:
- Being open to seeing the world differently and willing to accept you don't know
- Going at a slower speed so that you can allow the connections you hadn’t seen before to show themselves
- Being less in the head, trying to figure everything out, and more in the body, feeling your way
- Doing what makes you feel good (we are more open and receptive when we feel good!).
The answer you are looking for to whatever question you are asking is there, you already know it.
What if the next moment is the moment you realise it?
How would that change your world?
What do you need help with?
