We live in a rapidly changing world.  Today as I was returning from a meeting I heard announced on the radio that a thousand people were being laid off in the Canadian auto manufacturing sector.  Simultaneously I heard of plans to construct two nuclear reactors in Alberta.

Every day there are breakthroughs in the computer sector; events around the world are impacting our awareness even in their unfolding.  This truly is an adventure reminiscent of the Chinese blessing and curse, “May you live in times of change.”

Change is exciting; often good and always it is a little uncomfortable even to the most ardent transformers.  For many of us change is hopelessly confusing, it is grease under our feet that gives us speed we never really wanted, usually at the expense of balance.

So how do we deal with these constant upheavals?  How can we maintain balance in a world that seems to refuse us even a passing grasp on stability?  That appears to be the question determining our continued survival. 

Although any answer seems difficult, in truth the solution is not particularly complicated.  The biggest problem for most of us is our continued urge to fight every change, particularly the ones that call on us to act consciously. 

It was back in the late sixties and early seventies that recycling first came into the publics awareness, thirty years later we are just becoming conscious on a collective level that it is up to each of us to make the difference.  Today it appears we like the luxury of such sluggish shifts. 

We must be that change and act completely in integrity with our desire. 

When we do this we find that opportunity seems to precede us.  Doors open where for others they are closed.  Almost as if the energy of life were seeking to reward us for our integrity.  This isn’t like some great oceanic wave that knocks us into the next kingdom (you know the one, that kingdom of honey and roses).  No; this is a subtle process that works with our tendencies, our patterns that are primarily maintained subconsciously.   This process of change is definitely activated by our conscious thoughts but it is not maintained by them.  Like a ship in the ocean, it is the steady throb of our unconscious beliefs that drives us to our ‘destiny’.  Our conscious thoughts start the engine and trim the rudder but without constant focus the rudder is grabbed by the currents of human thought tendencies.  We end up right back where we started from and if we are normal we claim in our minds something like: “It’s hopeless!”  “Nothing I do works anyway.”

Psychologists, motivators and personal trainers claim that any new pattern must be maintained for at least twenty-one days in order to make it a habit.   This is definitely the minimum.  Often a real change takes years to truly complete itself; it will take unceasing vigilance and constant inner reminders of our new ways of thinking and behaving.  Many members of AA groups have discovered this.