I always run into people that want to change the course of their life … they want to become better husbands and wives, better bosses and employees, better children to their parents, better friends, simply better individuals! Willingness is certainly the first step towards that goal of becoming a better you!
Ironically, most of us only think of change when we have had it with our current lives … we can’t take it anymore! So they pack their stuff and head towards that light, the one that promises change, the one that promises a better you. So why is it that most of us fail to get there? Why do we give up along the way to a better us? Isn’t my willingness to change enough? Unfortunately, it isn’t!
When you get to that point in your life where you feel change is needed, your cup is full! It’s full by life’s routine, by the negative thoughts that surrounded you all these years, by the heartaches, the headaches, and the scars the left behind … how do you expect to receive change when you left no room in your cup for it? No wonder we give up before even beginning … we simply can’t take in anymore, even if it is positive.
My advice to you this morning is start your journey of self-improvement by first emptying your cup …
Change is never easy (no one ever said it is!), some people live their lives striving to be better, very true, they see themselves in the place they’d want to be but there is usually something holding them back; let it be a person, the way they were brought up, their culture, their religion, etc. Life comes with it’s good and bad, if only we can select what is good (or at least what is perceived to be good) we’d all be forever happy, if only there was this “Change” button!
Yes, we should empty our cups to receive more of what we want to become as we grow up, but we can only empty half of it; it is our cup, our identity.
I am a believer of Gandhi’s saying “Be the change you want to see in the world”… Well, we try, but some things are better said than done. Change requires sacrifice, how much are we willing to give up to change? How many people are going to be affected/hurt by this change? When does our urge to change ever stop?
Change always comes at a cost for a grater return. Sometimes the price you need to pay is high but the outcome of you investing in that change for a better you is ten folds. When I decided to quit my job and change my career, and follow my life’s purpose, I was fought by everyone (parents, friends, colleagues …) … I received a lot of negativity from the people that loved me most. But time passed, and I became the change I wanted to see in the world … And the same people that opposed me once are now supporting what I’m doing. Some were lost, but if I think about it, they were never there in the first place!
So the price tag on change is substantial, but the fruit it bares is a soul healer!