Things do not change. We change.
- Henry David Thoreau
Sometimes you seem to spend all your effort in keeping things the same. You fight change, and yet it happens all around you. In fact, whether you like it or not, you change. With each passing day, you grow older; your bodies age a little more; and your world is not the same in big and small ways.
The one thing that seems the slowest to change; the one thing you most fight to keep; the one thing that you’re never willing to give up, is your view of the world. You look around yourself and you see change, and, most often, you think “This is not good.” Some of you rage against it. Some of you quietly resign yourself to it. Yet there’s nothing you can do about it.
And yet, the fact that everything changes can be your greatest gift. No matter how bad things look today, that can change tomorrow. No matter what you feel you can’t achieve today, that can change tomorrow. No matter how disempowered you feel now, that can change tomorrow.
All it takes is a small change on your part. All it takes is to stop fighting against change and accept it will happen. And maybe tomorrow, when you look at that insurmountable problem that plaques you today, you’ll see a path around it that you’d never noticed. Look at the changes taking place around you and look at how some of those change can help you. Those changes are there if you wish to look. Even the changes that may appear “bad”, may be offering you a gift for the future.
Let me leave you with a short story.
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.
“Maybe,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy for what they called his “misfortune.”
“Maybe,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“Maybe,” said the farmer.
Accept the one thing that does not change – change happens.