Bram Levinson

How much time throughout our lives do we spend focusing on, and occasionally agonizing over, trying to keep how we look, who we’re involved with, and where we are in our careers in a place of stability? How many minutes out of each of our lifetimes have we spent trying to avoid change, fearing that with the slightest release of what we deemed as being control, we would be moving closer and closer to some unidentified threat? As a species, and moreover, as Westerners, humans have more or less lost sight of the fact that we carry the divine within us, and it is through that connection to the omnipotent that we need to be living, always maintaining perspective on the daily dramas that habitually take over our lives, leading us into despair or into elation. Because we’ve lost sight of that fundamental touchstone, we have created massive aversions to any circumstances or series of events that bring about change. Change has grown to represent upheaval and stress, mainly because we have lost sight of its potential for growth and insight, instead choosing to believe that change will only bring us to a place where we will have to give more energy and attention than we’re prepared to give. When we spend our lives in jobs we tolerate, when we settle for the mediocre in how we accept to be treated by those around us, and when we lose sight of the energy that the food we consume infuses us with, it’s inevitable that we end up resenting the events that pop up in our lives that we haven’t in some way rehearsed for and mentally prepared ourselves for. We find these times in our lives to be tests…testing our faith, testing our patience, testing our will to carry on, trying to maintain the semblance of normalcy, regardless of the repercussions to our health, our bodies, and our relationships to those that care most for us.

The one thing that is a given, the one thing that is a guaranteed constant, something we can always bet on is this: everything that exists is in the process of transformation. Everything. From the buildings we live in, to the bodies our souls inhabit throughout this lifetime…from the relationships we do our best to treat with reverence, to the food that’s being preserved in our refrigerators…from the trees outside gradually adapting to the change in temperature, to the cells in our bodies that make up our beautiful forms…everything is transforming. If we were taught as children that the only thing we could successfully count on in this life was change, and that change was something we could embrace and welcome instead of avoiding, our lives would be drastically different…but, obviously, it’s never too late to change how we perceive things, to allow for that shift in consciousness.

This is what I’m putting on the table for all of you reading this: let’s start off by looking at what patterns we have of avoidance and aversion…what we shy away from because we’re afraid of where we’ll end up if we follow that option. That’s it. For starters…and then once we’ve identified at least one instance in which we have tried to stay away from something or someone for fear of where we might end up, let’s look at the situation again from the point of view of someone who embraces change. If we truly understand that change embodies possibility and opportunity, then what valid reason could we possibly have to resist that which brings us closer to a place of peace and truth? Looking at how we’ve approached life for years through new lenses often gives us the opportunity to break the patterns that never served us from the start, which, in turn, allows us to implement the changes that bring us closer to where we’d like to be, to our ideal selves. that is what this life is for: transformation. From ignorant to illuminated, from selfish to selfless, from unseeing to undying, embrace transformation. Love change. It will always be with us for a reason. Figure out what that reason is, and you’ve figured out the rest of your lives. Go on. The time is now.

Learn more about YIOM, follow the bloggers participating, and catch up with our twitter feeds at http://theveganasana.com/YIOM.

0 Responses

  1. Such a great post. I love your thoughts on aversion and avoidance. I so guilty of those behaviors for fear of what will happen. I like the idea of revisiting the situation and embracing change from a place of love. Thanks

Leave a Reply