All this archaic, "fall backward" time change we did this weekend with our clocks and getting in the groove for the Lilly conference in a week got me thinking about change. How many times have you said with a carved in stone defiant finality, "It's not me" or "that just me." Well, I'd like to chip away at that block with a question. Ever wonder who the real "me" really is that you're talking about? Did you know that every seven years every one of the cells in our body has regenerated? Every seven years we're biologically new people? Every seven years, we're all completely changed. Outwardly, we notice that change. We call it "aging." Yet, inwardly we so often act as it nothing has happened. But, it does. One night, while in Shanghai, I was telling some students about how Buddha, Rumi, Picasso, and the brain researchers all agree that we don't see. We perceive; we interpret. Our sense of self, sense of others, and sense of the world around us are in many ways illusory. They are transitory perceptions, feelings, mental constructions, interpretations, selective awarenesses, picked through conscious or unconscious memories. They are not permanent actualities. It's a kind of daily rising from the ashes. It's a sort of perennial dying and being born each moment process while the succeeding moment is tied to and builds on the preceding ones. There is no fixed you or me from which to be transformed; there is no precise and static "is;" there is only "becoming." We live a world of constant forward motion. I mean, if I think about it, "me" when I was born is not the "me" when I was ten years old is not the same "me" when I was 20 is not the same "me" when I was 30 and is not the "me" now that I've hit 70. Life is not stasis because life is change, and it changes us. Each day we live in a world that combines greeting "hellos" and departing "goodbyes." We morph each day of our lives. We learn; we unlearn; we develop new habits and traits; we shed old ones; we acquire new memories and bury old ones. Change is natural. Time warping, skin deep Botox, liposuction, or face lifting that make you appear as someone you aren't are not. So, when someone says "that's not me" or "I am," or "I can't do that," or "I know how" or any other way they fight against change, that's unnatural. We can deny it all we want; we can resist this reality all we want, but in the end we cannot change it. And, to think we can defeat change will only mean, we'll get bitten in the ass; we'll be more troubled and beaten up, and thrown more off balance by the unavoidable reality of change. Trust me, I've been there.
Change, like life, is about constantly making choices. It's understanding that arriving at the answers to one set of questions isn't where change and choice end. It's where they begin with a whole new set of questions demanding a whole new set of choices. It's about letting go of some things that were and grabbing hold of some things that are. It's about leaving warm, cozy, and comforting things behind and going out into the cold of the discomforting unknown. There's no map; there's no compass; there's no guide. We just have to gulp, deeply inhale, maybe at times tightly close our eyes, and take a tentative step with belief, hope, and faith. We don’t have to like it; it's okay to fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. Our lives are about making choices. How we handle them is up to us, and that shows us what we're made of. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It can be a fearful drag or an adventurous high; it can be "sure death" or it can be an exhilarating rebirth; it can be paralyzing or it can be another shot at life. Sure, we want risk-free assurances, comforting guarantees, emotionally satisfying answers. Sure, we want to ease the pain or, at least, the uneasiness, that comes with the unknowns of change and growth. Anybody who tells you they don't isn't really being totally honest. It's not a matter of erasing the slate; it's a matter of where we focus. We each are really a "I was," "I am," and "I will be" all at the same time. But here's the truth, from personal experience, it's never too late to dream; it's always too early to stop dreaming. It is not enough to dream; you have to make that dream come true. You don't know what's out there for you, but you wont find out until you just muster the courage to do something and practice doing it. On any given day, if you can open your fingers, if you can loosen your grip, if you can let go, you'll have a better shot at finding your new and truer self by losing your older self. And, when you do, when you give yourself the gift of life, painful and terrifying as it may be, you'll feel an adrenaline rush of rejunvenation that makes it worth it. It's risky. God knows, it's scary as hell. Most us don't know how to do that, and are afraid of making mistakes while they struggle to figure it out. But, we are fallible human beings. Accept that. We make mistakes. We make wrong turns. We are flawed. And, we cannot see into the future. But, I've discovered that any "oops" that comes from doing something beats the hell out of a static and stagnating "I can't" or "It's not me" or "I know how to..." Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.the randomthoughts.edublogs.org Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__-/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6330 or send a blank email to leave-6330-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu