Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Pace of Change

Exciting things are happening in my life right now! A big one involves an exciting major change -a new job. After nearly 25 years at my current company, I am moving on to a new role with a wonderful organization. Interesting how change, and time for that matter, seem to have different paces at different stages of your life. During the job search, it seemed to take forever as I interviewed with company after company, and watched colleagues move onto different opportunities. Now I can hardly believe that in a week, I will be the one moving on.

It is fascinating how you can long for things - new jobs, relationships, children, publishing a book and it seems to take forever to happen. Then when it does, you can hardly believe it is there already. I remember waiting for the adoption referrals for my daughters. Those months and months seem to drag on- now my daughters are growing up way too fast for my taste. Where did the time go?

Is time relative after all? Vacations fly by yet time in the dentist's chair sure doesn't seem to. I believe the change we seek and the time it takes to happen is a product of far more than our effort. There is a divine hand at play making sure the circumstances are right and that we are ready, really ready, for the changes to happen. When you think about it, the year job search I conducted is really only a speck of time against the backdrop of the universe and history.

When I looked at my reinvention journey a little while back it seemed to have stalled, now I realize a ton of changes have and are still happening in my life. New job, I am in a relationship, have made some incredible new friends and I am on the edge of publishing my children's book. I still have a lot to accomplish. With 48 looming in a few weeks, I really want to get my healthy eating and exercise habits back on track so the next year can be the healthiest yet. I am still working on spiritual growth- that is a continual process.

So if you are trying to reinvent yourself and seeking changes in your life, it is alright if it takes awhile and try to enjoy the journey...the future will be here before you know it!

My favorite new quote from the Dalai Lama sums it up:

Asked what surprised him most about humanity, The Dalai Lama answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. Then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."