Episode 74: Change is the Point

What is the point of this life coaching work we do? What’s the point of looking at our thoughts, or processing our feelings, or even taking action? 

The point is: to change. But not just any change. Change in order to grow– in a way we want.

Change comes with discomfort, but it will be so worth it. In this episode, I give 6 thoughts about change that I hope will help you move toward change more gracefully and in a way you want for your life.

Don’t forget to register for my Understanding Trauma workshop this Friday, May 20th at 11 am MDT. Click HERE. 

A recent session with a client has me pondering about why we do this work anyway. We can get caught up in the cycle of awareness over our thoughts, processing our feelings, taking action without pausing to think about WHY we are doing any of it anyway.

The entire point is the CHANGE. Leave better than when you got here.

And sometimes we are feeling like we are just surviving. I get that. I’ve been there. Hopefully these are simply seasons of life, not permanent states.

I have now created a life I love. I am in a position where I feel resilient, able to handle life’s challenges. I am no longer in survival! And I want that for every woman on the planet. Because when the women and mothers are healthy and resilient, our communities are too.

The point of life is to grow. This requires change, but not all change counts toward growth. John Maxwell says “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” The point is to become “better” than you were before. To leave an impact, a legacy, to make a difference. And it starts with ourselves.

I have 6 points to help you change and grow.

1. Stop resisting change.

Today Change is the only constant- but it wasn’t like that in the Garden of Eden. We often think of the Garden of Eden as a place of serenity and peace. But what if it’s actually a Groundhog day type life!! We call this STUCK, STAGNANT. Not peace and joy!!

We know from Eve that decisions are necessary to progress and change.

2 Nephi 2: 22-23.

• Hugh Prather “Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.”
• Denis Waitley “You must welcome change as the rule, but not as your ruler.”
• Stephen Chbosky “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”
  
  2. See change for it’s growth potential.
  You don’t always have to be growing and changing, in fact we don’t see that in nature at all. Sometimes we don’t grow and that’s ok. And then there are seasons of growth too.

• Abraham Maslow **“**In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.”
• Arnold Bennett “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by discomforts.”
• Roy T. Bennett “You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
• Mandy Hale “Change is painful, but nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.
• Thomas Fuller “All things are difficult before they are easy.”
  
  3. Change starts with a dream and a decision.

• Debby Boone “Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream.”
• Harriet Tubman “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
• Steve Jobs “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
• Mother Eve had a dream, and then she made a decision.
  
  4. When you can’t change the circumstance, change your attitude. Foundation of life coaching.

• Oprah Winfrey “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
• Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
• Leo Tolstoy ”Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
• Wayne W. Dyer “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”
• George Bernard Shaw “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
• Maya Angelou “If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
  
  5. Sometimes change means letting go, not creating new or adding in.

• Hermann Hesse “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”
• Raymond Lindquist “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”
• C.S. Lewis “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
• Roy T. Bennett “If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.”
• Steve Maraboli “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
  
  6. Taking action is required.

• Andy Warhol “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”
• William Arthur Ward “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
• Leo Tolstoy “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.”
• Sister Craven in the April 2022 General Conference Women’s sessions said, “If you want to know anything, you will have to do something.” And I would add- if you want to change anything, you will have to do something differently.

The whole point

• Gail Sheehy “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
• Mahatma Gandhi “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
• Winston Churchill “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
• Bible Dictionary on repentance: a change of mind.

The point of life is to live. Let’s think about the word “live” for a moment. The Constitution of the USA is a “living document.” What does that mean? It means it is always changing. It’s not static. So to live literally means to change. To live means to repent. To live means to grow in a positive way. (Garden analogy) And positive growth means having a dream, making a decision, and taking action toward your dream, which will require discomfort. But it will be so worth it.