Change can be really irritating...

 

At Centerpoint it sometimes shows up in phrases like, “This is too hard,” “I can’t spend the time finding my passion when I just have to find a job,” or, “Are these changes really possible to make?”

 

It’s normal to ask questions like these. The way these queries are phrased opens our eyes to the realization that we want things to be different from the way they are. We wish summer could have been warmer (or cooler if you’re in other parts of the country). We hope upon hope that we can simply pick the next big thing that we’re going to do and just get on with it. It’s really annoying that things are challenging, difficult or upsetting at times.

 

My own frustration today is about how long these changes that we want to make at Centerpoint are taking. We are an entire system of people, services, and visions; I understand that our transition is a complex one. But what’s taking so long? For example, it’s been several months since we began focusing on how to market Centerpoint better so that we can connect with and help more people. We have been lucky to have a bunch of capable, fun, and very generous volunteers step forward to help us out by giving of their time and expertise.

 

So why isn’t every Centerpoint individual and corporate workshop as well as each counselor’s schedule completely full by now? We’ve all been working so hard; shouldn’t it all be in place? [BTW, if you have the answers to those questions, please contact us right away! :-)] While I understand that this is a process that has its own timing of which I can’t control, I have to admit that my impatience grows with each day that darts by.

 

Why do things have to change? Why don’t we just learn to live with ‘what is’ and keep the status quo? Or, why don’t we, in the words of Monty Python, just “Always look on the bright side of life?” What is it that makes us step into that uncomfortable space where change is scary, risky, and daunting and where the potential of what might be or who we might become exists?

 

I believe that when we sense something’s not working, when we’re feeling unhappy with and even prickly about a situation, is when we can open up possibilities for a brighter future. Instead of fighting our own irritability, how can we shift this perspective and view it as a clue that we have begun down a path towards something better for ourselves?

 

A tiny grain of sand that finds its way into an oyster shell results in a pearl. The potential pearl begins as an irritation to the oyster. But by attending to it instead of ignoring or even ejecting it the oyster creates a very rare jewel, indeed.

 

What annoyance is coming up for you today? Might that disagreeable situation be just the catalyst that you need to grow into your unique self? What question can you ask yourself in order to gain some clarity on what this means in your life right now? 

 

I realize that my impatience with Centerpoint’s changes is connected to my need to make as big a difference as I can in as many people’s lives as possible. My personal question is then, How can I focus more on those tasks that I can do and let go of those which are out of my hands?