CHANGE IS INEVITABLE …

Change isn’t always bad. Sure, we hope traditions will survive the tides of change. We are creatures of habit, and in being habitual, we are taught that our traditions define a very important piece of who we are.

But what defines us when traditions fall to the waist side of those who don’t hold it in the same esteem? Do we decide to hate the game, throw a fit, and take our ball home or do we find something to anchor our old traditions with their new doctrine of thinking?

We cling so tightly to what was that we don’t see what can be. Grow or perish, sink or swim, flourish or shrivel up,  we can’t expand our experiences if we keep embracing stagnancy. We must move, we must grow, we must move forward. WE MUST CHANGE, IT’S INEVITABLE!

If I have to be the one to break the news, so be it …  STAGNANCY ISN’T AN OPTION. You must bend and sway or you will live your entire life miserable. And who wants that? (put your hand down!) Nobody in their right mind says, “Ummm, I think I wanna be miserable today.”  At least, nobody, I know. When you spend your time looking back at what was, you will end up tripping over what can be.

Listen, take it from me, the de la O’s have had some pretty hard couple of months. My family hasn’t lived in stagnancy at all. We’ve endured so much pain and suffering, we’ve lost and found only to lose again. It doesn’t matter at this point what happened or what is still happening, what matters at this point is what we decide to do with what keeps showing up in our lives. It’s picking up what was and seeing how we can take the part that matters to us and leave the rest behind.  And even though it seems like our lives are spiraling out of control, we have to find the parts that serve our highest and best good. We have to place our feet on the floor and take that first step into the day. It’s hard, believe me, I know. But we have to give it a shot. Change is inevitable.

Things fall away, new things show up, it’s uncomfortable, it’s irritating, it’s life. In the last couple of months, I haven’t given thanks for the day the Universe has given me. I’m embarrassed to say, I’ve been asking what next, God? What are you throwing my way today, Universe? More death? Pain? Suffering? Chaos? And I’d be damned because that shit I was asking for kept showin’ up! More chaos, more pain, suffering, and yes, even death showed up in my life. I spent so much time cowering to the idea that some “other shoe” was going to drop that I’ve been living in the effect of my thinking instead of being the creator of my thought.

I’ve allowed the conditional thinking of yesterday paint today’s landscape. I’ve been so conditioned by events in my life that I totally forgot that I have a choice. I can choose my reaction. I get to choose the way I react to life. Sure bad things are going to happen, I’m gonna struggle through events, and yeah, I’m going to lose people and things I love. It’s life, and being my life I have to choose how I react. It’s my life and I’m responsible for it. Today, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I am strong enough to take responsibility for my life again.

With LOVE and COMPASSION,

Gretchen de la O