For literally billions of years on planet earth, change happened very very slowly, in geological time frames where a million years one way or another didn’t much matter in terms of what changed during that time. Now and then sudden events occurred, such as a meteor hitting the planet – but mostly, change was incremental and hardly noticeable.

Then … along came human beings, with their unique mental ability to take experiences from their past, imagine a new combination of ingredients and processes – and generate something new quite rapidly by purposeful individual action.

• That’s the glory, and quite possibly the ultimate undoing, of the human species of which we’re an integral part: in each new moment, we can flash intuitively and creatively with a new idea, a new way of doing something – and generate change.

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The Nature Of Change

First of all, change is something that we’re all creating, each time we shift into creative mode in our minds and come up with a new idea. First comes the idea, then comes the external change.

Secondly, from the creative human perspective, change is always happening – because each new moment of our lives is new – it’s never happened before. In fact, the universe is continually creating itself each new moment.

We’re still caught up in the big bang … this moment is by definition new, it’s a constant natural expression of unending change.

• The key thing about change is that we can either participate in it’s ongoing unfolding activity, or we can anxiously resist it and want things to stay the same.

Change isn’t the issue – the moment is always new. It’s our response or reaction to this ongoing newness that determines if change is stressful, or invigorating.

Each of us is continually choosing either to resist change, or to embrace it. Those who resist change live in stress and anxiety and fatigue and a living hell. Those who respond to change eagerly and with full participation live in joy and creativity and a sense of positive participation in the greater whole.

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How Can We Deal With Non-Stop Change?

What’s important, as I see it, is consciously and constantly choosing to play ball – to participate in whatever’s emerging in each new moment. This is not an esoteric notion – it’s a core mental function that we can actively manage and improve.

What’s essential in responding positively to the ongoing newness of the emerging moment, especially at work, is staying aware of your breathing as much as possible – because this keeps your focus of attention sharply attuned to the emerging moment, so that it doesn’t surprise you.

• Our WiseWell Breather Breaks are designed to do just that – to help you return your focus of attention back to full awareness of what’s happening in the here and now at work. Everybody’s mind’s attention tends to drift off into the past or the future. This is perfectly fine, past-future thinking is part of life. But when we are lost in thought too often and too long, we lose touch with what’s actually happening in the present moment, and that’s dangerous.

Breath awareness serves as an enjoyable anchor in the present moment – it keeps us engaged with what’s emerging in the here and now. We become part of the change when we stay focused on our breathing and our wholebody responses to what’s happening around us. And when we’re part of the change rather than being hit by it, change becomes a most wonderful experience to participate in.

Right now, if you tune into the air flowing in and out of your nose as you read these words, you’ll bring your awareness back ‘here’ and in so doing, you’ll naturally experience what’s happening inside you, and around you. Ah!

The key thing is this – when you hold your focus to include your breathing experience in the present moment, and participate fully in the change emerging constantly in the present moment, you become an essential part of what’s happening – and change becomes your best friend.

It’s always new … and so are you.

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This entry was posted on January 26, 2012 at 8:05 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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