MAKING CHANGE HAPPEN

Sometimes change happens to us; sometimes we have to change ourselves. It is way more difficult to effect change in ourselves.

I’ve been dealing with my anger for more than ten years and just when I think I’m rid of it, I slip back and find it’s still alive and well. Like a lot of unwanted habits, it doesn’t just go away just because I decide to deal with it—it takes constant attention over a period of time. It takes as long as it takes. So, once again I’m reminded that this life is a process—and like doing anything, painting a painting, for instance, the picture isn’t complete with one brushstroke; it takes some doing, stopping and starting over again, and again until it's right.

I think "stick-to-it-iveness" or the willingness "to be in it for the long haul" is one of the most admirable human traits. Almost any success in life, it seems to me, comes from persistence. So, I find that if I’m really going to change what I want to change in myself, my main objective needs to be determination not to give up.

OUR PRESENT ACTIONS

One thing I always find heartening is knowing what we are doing right now—right this minute—is like a filter which the past flows through. This means that our present actions determine our future. So if we are doing what is good and true, we are making for a better life ahead. Even if we are dealing with bad karma we’ve created in the past, if we are doing the right thing, right now, we are improving the future.

Change usually doesn’t happen all by itself.