How to Accept and Deal with Change

                                                                                                                     - Manisha Varma

Ms. Manisha Varma is a Counselling Psychologist with over two decades of rich experience working with youth across the spectrum of psychological and wellbeing concerns.

Ah, Change!!! Such a constant! It occurs all the while. Whether it is an external change in time and weather, or it's inside our own systems in terms of body functions, thought and emotions, motivation and enthusiasm towards life.....and the list goes on and on.

The questions which hold relevance here are.....Do you welcome change? How open are you to it? It is worth noting that if change means doing something pleasurable while taking a break from routine, it sure does hold tremendous value. But if there is a lingering question, 'Something needs to change...Is it my approach?', then that calls for work. And putting in the efforts to work requires a mindset. We may often go about our daily living with an unconscious state of being and functioning. We prefer doing things the way we have been for a while, which applies in the context of both ourselves and others.

Change is such a dynamic quality, it uplifts one in ways never imagined. Our Leadership styles in various contexts depend on it. Would you wish to make a mark leading a team, or struggle your way through with your skills, but have no mindset for change? The instant prerequisite to anything worthwhile to pursue is C-H-A-N-G-E. The term involves a push to it; a stretch beyond all that you have done so far; flexibility of sorts. The opposite is at play big time as we talk about change.....R-E-S-I-S-T-A-N-C-E.

Your approach has such importance to your willingness to change. Here are a few questions to answer with respect to change and resistance to change which could give you insights into where you stand.

1. What is the resistance to change about in your case?
2. What aspects of the resistance would you like to address right away?
3. What aspects of resistance would you like to look at once you have dipped your feet into the doable aspects of addressing your resistance?
4. How would you commit to making the resistance work in your favor?
5. What time commitment would you allot to making appropriate changes?
6. Should the resistance not have been in your mindset, what kind of a person would you have been?
7. What steps would you take to ensure the gap being filled between your actual mental state and the desired state based on the person you aspire to be?

These and similar such questions can facilitate deep introspection, whilst also paving the way for something new to emerge from inside of you, which when action is taken, could benefit both you as well as others who come in touch with you.

There is Power in Letting Go....this has been stated for ages by experts from different walks of life. This power has incredible capacities to free oneself and build up creative operative mechanisms within oneself. So now, the three questions of the Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin which could be used here are - Could you be willing to let go? Would you be willing to let go? When? Do you feel an energy shift as you answer these questions? If yes, this clearly means that a shift in your psyche has taken place, and all you need to do is to action that shift, a representation of the Change element into your functioning. That shift may not necessarily happen with immediate effect, but awareness to start with and an inclination to travel that road begins to build up. Yes, there would be constant reminders needed. Revisiting the answers to the questions of the Sedona method could be really useful.

So a Changed approach is Awareness + Mindset + Action, in that sequence. The cycle needs to keep repeating for the adaptability to the concept of change and the habit of both accepting and concertizing dealing with change. The result would be a more Fluid YOU, just like how time, energy, and money is a Flow. What we do with the Flows in our life is intricately connected to the Flow of Mindset to change as well. 

Do you think you would be able to take this concept forward? From the look of it, it seems doable so far. But the real task is your commitment to do so. Keep those reminders handy to look at instances with Fresh Eyes. It is then that you would adapt to the concept of looking at change as a Welcome Phenomenon rather than a threat. The Flow of Mindset being smoother is directly proportional to the sense of satisfaction and confidence that would ensue for being on the path to Accepting Change.

Have Fun "Being The Change".✌✌