The Year of Change

It seems that 2009 is the year of "change." It was Obama's campaign promise before we even knew the significance of what that meant personally to us on a day-to-day level. And now, three months after he's been elected and four months after the crash of the markets, I don't think there is a single person who isn't feeling "change," whether they are yearning for it, resisting it, or both, depending on the topic we're talking about.

A few weeks ago I made reference to the tumultuous start that 2009 has been for my family and friends. To sum it up, the last two months have been about illness, unexpected surgeries, deaths, relationships breaking up...honestly, so many things seem to be upendeding simultaneously that's it's almost laughable. (Because if you don't laugh you're going to cry).

Well, all this change happening within the economy, my life personally, etc. has gotten me thinking and theorizing. This is clean out time. I've always believed that life (or fate or God or all the above) have a way of making sure you're doing what you need to be doing when you need to be doing it. Initially you get signs (hints if you will) that change is coming. You can choose to be aware of these hints and embrace the change or you can sweep the hints under the rug and be blind-sided. Regardless, change will come.

And 2009 I think is a year of massive change (or as the folks at this week's World Economic Forum are saying, "Transformational change.") Basically, this is the year when everything that is not working, whether that be our financial markets, jobs, or relationships...everything is getting a shake up. Everything will get righted again...eventually. So, the questions are:

• Are you taking the hints of where in your life shake up is about to occur?
• And more importantly, how are you preparing yourself for that change?

I think it's time for all of us to reflect. And to help with that reflection, I have two articles to share.

The first article is another great one by Martha Beck. It's about trying to escape your rat race. The tag line of the article questions, "Feeling trapped by a job, relationship, or routine, but terrified to make a change?" It's worth reading the whole article, but a game presented within it of "You're Getting Warmer, You're Getting Colder" I thought was great. Quoting Martha:

It isn't necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look; you only have to know what feels better and what feels worse. If something feels both good and bad, break it down into its components to see which are warm, which are cold. Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than how you think an ideal life should look.

The second article, also from the January 2009 issue of Oprah, is called "You Don't Need More Willpower..." This article talks about how to make change that you want happen. There's an interesting exercise that accompanies it from Harvard University researchers Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey. It's designed to help you figure out what's holding you back to achieving the things that you desire. Check it out. © 2008 - Brianna Sylver - All rights reserved