How you respond to transitions and changes will, to a very great extent, define how you experience your time and your life.

It also has a profound effect on your energy, your focus, and ultimately your productivity and success.

So I invite you to pause for a moment. Relax and think about how the flux and flow of transitions affect your feelings about your time? Let the feelings bubble up, and just observe.

Change is Happening All the Time

Right now, here in the Northern Hemisphere we’re moving toward spring. To the south, autumn is approaching.

Meanwhile, world events stream at us from our TV’s, radios, phones, tablets and computers. Whether in the natural world or the worlds of politics, work, family, or community — change is everywhere.

And whether these changes are disturbing or cause for celebration, they all mean that you experience the ground shifting under your feet.

Something to Remember About Change

So, today I want to highlight a small illusion that comes into play when approaching changes and transitions. It significantly undermines our ability to respond to change. What is it? It ‘s the idea that change is something out of the ordinary.

These two quotations, both from Heraclitus (535-475 BC) illustrate my point.

“There is nothing permanent except change.”

“You cannot step into the same river twice.”

I think that, for starters, you can help yourself manage change by accepting its foundational presence in our lives.

So, Step Into the River…

The fact of the matter is that we are always in transition. Most of the time we just don’t know it. On waking, we transition into our day. When we leave the house we transition into the world, and vice versa. We are always in a state of change. Permanence is the illusion.

Realizing this, we give ourselves the space to respond to changes without experiencing them, necessarily, as unhappy upheavals. The more we expect flux and fluidity, the less disorienting it will be for us.

When you don’t waste energy recoiling from change, you are better able to assess how you really feel about it. And that, in turn, leaves you better able to respond from a grounded place of personal empowerment.

How do you respond to change when it presents itself to you? Do you step into the river of change? How do you feel about its constancy?