Change is Always Guaranteed

Change is a central feature of life and it is always guaranteed. Things will always change. It can be exhilarating, frightening, exhausting, or relieving.

From the moment we are born, we begin to change. Everything around us is in a constant state of changing. We don’t notice these changes because most of them are gradual.

It is the sudden changes, the abrupt changes that can throw us off course, upset us, make us happy, and make us want to fight and scream or laugh and cry.

Some people say that they don’t like change. There are some changes that I don’t like either, but I have found that instead of fighting change, if we flow with it, life can be so much simpler. The tension we feel while we are going through change is what upsets us. If we accept the change, and relax and go with it, the tension goes away and we can find peace. Easier said than done, I know, but it does help.

I have gone through a lot of changes in my life. Some have been good and some have been painful. But every change that has come into my life has made me a stronger and more compassionate person. I find it easier to understand and care for others because of some of the tough changes I have dealt with.

I can hear people saying, “Yeah, you can say that. You have no idea what I’m going through!” That is true. I have no idea what you are going through. But there are others going through what you are going through. And there are others who are going through far worse than what you are going through. We are never alone. Everyone suffers in their lives. It is our ideas that we suffer alone and no one can understand that causes us the most pain sometimes.

The hardest lessons in our lives have the power to destroy us or strengthen us. The choice is ours. We can either let them beat us, or stand up and never give up. Always move onward and upward. Every day there are new challenges for us and new opportunities for us to learn and be better people.

The most amazing change in my life was when I started seeing the world differently. Most of my life it seemed that all I could see was the pain and the ugliness in the world. Slowly, gently, that changed while I was living in New York and spending a lot of time wandering around the city alone, taking pictures, watching people and talking to strangers.

When I first arrived in New York, I was disappointed. At that time, New York looked dirty and ugly to me. People were rude. There were homeless people everywhere. There was trash piled up on the sidewalk that smelled so bad. The subways smelled nasty because too many people were using them as a toilet. I couldn’t believe that this was the place of my dreams.

Wandering the streets of New York, taking pictures and talking to people changed the way I saw things. I started seeing beauty in little things around me. I saw beauty in the faces of many of the homeless people that I saw every day and I made a few friends with some of them also. When we go inside of ourselves and look at the world through the eyes of God, we change and the way we see the world also changes. It is a matter of choice. We choose how we look at things.

One day I experienced this seeing in an amazing way. I had decided to attend an evening service at a church I was attending at that time. I was planning to go to the bank and pick up some cash, have dinner at my favorite diner near Central Park and then head over to the church.

I made my trip to the bank and headed over to the diner. When I arrived at the diner, I was disappointed that a woman was sitting in my usual place at the counter, but I chose another seat close to her.

I ordered my food and started a conversation with the lady. We talked about a lot of things. Life, politics, religion, cats. It was a comfortable conversation. Then things changed. Our conversation changed and my vision changed. She started talking about the homeless and how hard it was to find work after the age of 50. As she spoke, I noticed the dirt on her hands. I noticed that her hair and clothes were also dirty. And I noticed that she had two cats in carriers that she was carrying around with her. I hadn’t seen any of these things while we were talking in the beginning of our conversation.

I had finished my dinner and I was getting ready to pay my bill. When I opened my wallet, I saw the money that I had just withdrawn from the bank. Something told me to give it to her, and I did. Her smile and the look of shock were priceless. She told me that I was one of the nicest people she had ever met. I told her it wasn’t me, God was watching over her.

I left the diner and headed to the church. I didn’t feel like I had done anything great. I was feeling bad that I couldn’t do more. When I arrived at the church, I saw a friend. I told him what had happened and he told me, “Don’t worry, you did what you could at the time. Sometimes that is all we can do.”

I have always felt a strong urge that I wanted to try and save the world. But I only have so much power and others have to take responsibility for their lives. It’s not easy for me to let go of that urge to save the world, but sometimes I think we have to surrender a little. We give what we can and we pray for all.

© Pamela Sawyer, 2012