CHANGE IS PART OF LIFE
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is quoted as having said: ‘There is nothing permanent except change.’
Change…change…change… Everything changes. The seasons change, the weather changes, people change, we change our jobs, our houses, our clothes, our appearance. Change is all around us. Change is inside us. So why are we constantly surprised when things change? It is simply the nature of life, part of its richness and variety.
Brian Falkner once said: “Life is like a book. There are good chapters, and there are bad chapters. But when you get to a bad chapter, you don’t stop reading the book! If you do… then you never get to find out what happens next!”
Perhaps we are afraid of change because with it comes an uncertainty about the future, and we can lose our sense of feeling rooted and secure. However, change can also bring a sense of excitement about what the future might hold, with endless possibilities and opportunities that we are as yet unaware of.
I love the symbol of transformation we see in the caterpillar metamorphosing into the butterfly. I’m sure the caterpillar didn’t feel overwhelmingly happy when it stopped eating, hung upside down and spun a tight cocoon around itself. What a nightmare it must have gone through as it completely fell apart, decomposed and finally died within the chrysalis. But what amazing euphoria it must have experienced when it eventually emerged from its dark cocoon as a beautiful, winged butterfly.
When life changes it’s inevitably scary and frightening, but we just have to learn to lean into the wind. We may feel at times as if we are losing ourselves, but we can emerge from the darkness of the chrysalis as a new and better self.
We might be happier, more contented people if we learned to embrace change in our lives, rather than resisting it. Just as spring sunshine follows a dark winter, at the end of every dark tunnel, there is light.
And a world full of beautiful, changing colours, like the iridescent butterfly.
