Change is the only reliable thing in the world

Heraclitus (535BC-475BC)

We trained hard ... but everytime we begin to form into teams, we are re-organised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by re-organising ... and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing inefficiency and demoralisation.

Petronius (AD 66)

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We never knew his head and all the light

that ripened in his fabled eyes. But

his torso still glows like a gas lamp dimmed

in which his gaze, lit long ago,

holds fast and shines. Otherwise the surge

of the breast could not blind you, nor a smile

run through the slight twist of the loins

toward that centre where procreation thrived.

Otherwise this stone would stand deformed and curt

under the shoulders' transparent plunge

and not glisten just like wild beasts' fur

and not burst forth from all its contours

like a star: for there is no place

that does not see you. You must change your life.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

What have we really learnt? What are we doing a bit better?

As a very good friend and mentor said to me, we have a choice of how we manage our expectations and live our life. Each of us will always works in multiple systems whether it’s in the office, at a social gathering, amongst family and spending time alone. Change has a different rippling effect that results in altering our expectations with each new piece of information we receive and integrate with what we already know. We may be forced to review our positions, it may align with our convictions, it may require us to consider alternative approaches which is beyond our current knowledge, we may choose to simple ignore it. Whichever path you chose, the flipside to change is the uncertainty it will cause – the anxiety and chaos – as it’s not clear what can be done to maintain the expectations set, knowingly or unknowingly, in the multiple systems we inhabit. The question becomes how do you choose to lean into it?

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

What do you need to work with change?