You Can’t Stop Change … But You Can Help Sway It
A few weeks ago, the first clear signs of Autumn arrived in my region, in Anaiwan Country in Australia. First, a chilly night came in amongst mild ones. Next, a couple of leaves on the tree across the road started to fade.
A lot has changed in those few weeks. Advertisements for wood deliveries are all over Facebook Marketplace from local deliverers. Flannelette sheets are back on the beds, as are the doonas (the Australian word for duvets). That tree across the road now has sparse foliage of red and yellow, and the leaves on the tree by my window have changed to faded green, yellow and brown. Soon they will be bare.
Change is one of the only guarantees in life, along with death, and some say taxes, though plenty of creative accounting types seem to manipulate that one.
We either embrace change or resist it.
If it’s the latter, unconsciously we could be setting ourselves up for more suffering. Life will change whether we like it or not. Even for those who live in the same house all of their lives, their neighbourhoods change around them putting the comfort of familiarity somewhat on a tilt.
Embracing change doesn’t necessarily mean going and chasing it, creating upheaval repeatedly in your life. It can do. Goodness knows, my former restless spirit and my sense of adventure did that to my younger self often enough! I moved regularly and landed wherever the wind blew me. It was exciting, challenging, horrible and wonderful at all once.
No, what I mean in embracing change is to accept that it is a part of life and then contribute to positive adjustments through preparation. It means understanding that life will not stay the same. Through conscious thought and taking action towards change in the direction you wish for, you are swaying the flow of your life in healthy ways.
There is a difference between embracing change and trying to control it. Regardless, very little change lands exactly as we imagine it. Control is usually driven by fear, though, not conscious action.
A dance between action and surrender also assists the astounding creativity of life to help us.
Thanks to you all for understanding and accepting the change of my newsletter platform and thank you to the paid subscribers of Life and Wonder with Bronnie Ware. Paid subscriptions support the huge amount of work it takes to bring the newsletters to you all. I’ve also spent thousands of dollars (and thousands more!) over the last decade on different mailing systems to deliver newsletters. So, I really appreciate those who have been able to support this work through the monthly or annual subscription.
It also feels lovely to enjoy that private relationship with you by writing exclusive content that only paid subscribers access. I give a lot of thought and time to creating it, sharing tools and tales that help the lessons be relatable for a strong impact in your own life. It’s an honour to support you through the more powerful content.
Stories shared to paid subscribers since the last fortnightly newsletter are Sabotage on a Primal Level and Thinking Outside of the Box.
The free fortnightly newsletters will continue though! So for this fortnight, as summer lets go into autumn in the southern hemisphere and winter lets go into spring in the northern, it’s hard not to think about change and the cycles of life.
It is only through change that we grow and realise our potential. It can be horrific and heartbreaking, but it can also be exciting and challenging in other forms. Either way, we can’t avoid it. So the less resistance we give to change and the more we can embrace it, whatever it is in our personal life, the more flow we create for ourselves.
With love,
Bronnie.
PS. For those who have been following the journey of my off-grid, tiny home, there is a new vlog up. It’s not in the usual storytelling mode, but more of a chat this time. It will at least bring you up-to-date on the twisting adventure! And for those who are new here, feel welcome to start at Episode 1 and watch your way forward! This latest one is Episode 25. You can watch them all here.