Change is the only reliable thing in the world
Heraclitus (535BC-475BC)
We trained hard ... but everytime we begin to form into teams, we are re-organised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by re-organising ... and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing inefficiency and demoralisation.
Petronius (AD 66)
Archaic Torso of Apollo
We never knew his head and all the light
that ripened in his fabled eyes. But
his torso still glows like a gas lamp dimmed
in which his gaze, lit long ago,
holds fast and shines. Otherwise the surge
of the breast could not blind you, nor a smile
run through the slight twist of the loins
toward that centre where procreation thrived.
Otherwise this stone would stand deformed and curt
under the shoulders' transparent plunge
and not glisten just like wild beasts' fur
and not burst forth from all its contours
like a star: for there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
What have we really learnt? What are we doing a bit better?
As a very good friend and mentor said to me, we have a choice of how we manage our expectations and live our life. Each of us will always works in multiple systems whether it’s in the office, at a social gathering, amongst family and spending time alone. Change has a different rippling effect that results in altering our expectations with each new piece of information we receive and integrate with what we already know. We may be forced to review our positions, it may align with our convictions, it may require us to consider alternative approaches which is beyond our current knowledge, we may choose to simple ignore it. Whichever path you chose, the flipside to change is the uncertainty it will cause – the anxiety and chaos – as it’s not clear what can be done to maintain the expectations set, knowingly or unknowingly, in the multiple systems we inhabit. The question becomes how do you choose to lean into it?
People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
What do you need to work with change?
