Our Environment is Not the Only Thing that Changes – So Do You

Change and transformation are happening in business and society at large, like it or not. We human beings are constantly changing, even at the level of our body’s cellular biology; yet vast numbers of people try to hold on to “just the way we are/I am” to avoid personal growth. When something shows up that contradicts our perceptual worldview, we tend to ignore our experience or intuition and disconnect from what our own inner truth is telling us as we attempt to cling to what we know. This will not allow you to adapt to change easily, by any means.

The wisdom to change what you can and accept what you cannot requires letting go of control. Actually, it’s better said as, “letting go of the illusion of control.” You see, you don’t have control over the shifts that are occurring now. What you do have quite a bit of potential control over, if you pay attention are your thinking and feeling. You have the power to embrace change and not accept that “I am just the way I am.” This is powerful in that, even if you can’t change the external situation at that moment, at least you will be able to adapt and see with more clarity.

You can learn how to see differently, attain a new future, and take different, more constructive actions. There is a hurdle, though, that you need to be aware of. It is something called cognitive dissonance. I want to focus here on the fact that the great majority of people seem not to be able to venture out of the box of what the masses are doing and begin to connect with what is important to their own purposeful life journey, even if what they are doing doesn’t lead them to the supposed outcomes promised by prevailing wisdom. What are some reasons?

We don’t trust our own inner wisdom, we need to wait for the voice of “authority” before proceeding, and we are too stuck on “what is” and have no imaginative muscle for “what can be.”

This is primarily due to conditioning. Little children can learn and adapt to whatever the prevailing culture teaches, but there are more and more courageous souls seeking change toward a more sustainable world. The authority of science can help to engage our logic in a useful way; yet, if your intuition/inner genius is guiding you to move ahead of the curve, it can behoove you to listen. Many skeptics who refuse to believe until something can be proven by science live in chronic cognitive dissonance, where what they profess contradicts their actions or results via blind spots. For example, do you realize that science cannot explain or prove gravity? Does that keep you from experiencing it? Does that mean that you cannot be affected by it? Of course not.

So just because you were taught that thought and intellect are more valuable and over-rule feelings and intuition doesn’t make it so. In fact, science is even starting to show how our higher level of brain functioning is tied to feeling and intuition. I could have told them that, because I finally stopped waiting on the authority figure to give me permission to trust my own inner wisdom to help me to change my life for the better. If you want to experience your higher purpose and inner genius, you will need to begin to adapt to change and ambiguity with greater ease. You are constantly challenged to grow into the next version of “you.” In order to do so, you will need to be able to 1) Slow down and reflect to get clarity as to what is purposeful for you; 2) Trust your Self (deeper than ego), and reconnect with your own core values from the heart: and 3) Deviate from the mass behavior of running yourself into the ground. Have some fun to restore and rejuvenate your spirit, mind, emotion/energy and body.

We have an amazing inner technology (brain and nervous system) that is innate, and it is dys-functioning from neglect and abuse by being too externally focused on distraction and “busyness.” It is causing burnout, frustration, and lack of meaning in life. I know that at the root of this is a lack of awareness of the truth that situations, people’s behavior, and circumstances are constantly changing, and we have programmed our brain to be overly attached to needing predictability. Even worse, what we are accustomed to in terms of “the way we do things” is not in the best interest of our health, relationships, or prosperity.

Have you noticed the statistics? Depression is epidemic. Obesity is epidemic. Debt is overwhelmingly epidemic. Disparity in economic measures (due to much corruption on the part of the few, not individual capabilities) between society members is at a historical all-time high in the U.S. Stress and overwhelm are out of control, yet productivity has fallen.

Do you see what I mean by cognitive dissonance? Why would we argue to keep business as usual when it is blatantly apparent that the system is broken and a new paradigm is in dire need? This new paradigm can have space for individual creativity and innovation without the focus on lack and fear. This is a time for change, and it begins within us.

Brain science can help us begin to recognize the power of intention, attention, and focus, as well as the importance of paradigm-shifting research ideas such as the power of compassion for self and others (instead of motivating via criticism and fear or power over others; collaboration will work better these days), the power of healthy respect and conscious management of feelings (instead of denial and repression), and the power of gratitude, appreciation, and joy (instead of acting like an “adult,” meaning joyless, stuck, and too sober, behaviorally).

Since we are assigning the meaning to our lives, as research shows, we may as well start assigning meaning in a way that does not destroy the very fabric of our society by creating self-destruction.