Wild Musings:
I get asked to speak on change management a lot, and I’m happy to do so. What’s funny is that every single organization gets described, during our pre-event prep, as being in the state of “unprecedented” or “rapid” change. Maybe it’s time to just accept that change is what “is.” That perhaps it’s not unusual or cause for concern, just that it’s something we need to make peace with, being especially mindful of things like communication and positivity, and leaning into people’s strengths and taking care of ourselves.
A Wild Dare?
Clearly there are some changes that we welcome and others we resist with every fiber of our being. What if you flipped it? Not denying the challenges or struggles that come with transitions, but looking for, really investigating the goodness of the change. Dare yourself, with whatever shifts are present in your life right now, to hold them whole-heartedly: acknowledging the resistance, and hanging out, as much as you can, with the sweetness and benefits that accompany the change.
Leaves have mostly let go
but for a few bright survivors
hanging on despite the wind,
offering bursts of color against
the soft gray sky of this day.
It is transition season, to be sure.
The harvest is in
the garden put to bed
while still some flowers bloom
and brilliant yellow and glowing red leaves
cover rich green grass–
there is no shortage of breath-catching beauty
as summer lets go and fall steps in.
Nor is there a scarcity of beauty
in other less vivid or obvious changes.
It may not show itself, perhaps,
in such stunning or flamboyant form,
but it is there, as surely as the autumn leaves
that grace the occasional branch
and color our landscape
as they blow and swirl and settle.
Ours it is, in whatever transitions
are gusting through our inner and outer landscapes,
to seek that beauty.
To not let it go
no matter the story that surrounds it.
To remember that we need beauty
like we need air, water, and food.
May this be a season of grace
as changes swirl around us.
May the last of the fall colors
be a mental image you capture and call on
when the colors of your shifting feel dull or weary.
May they be part of your joy
when the shifts in your life find you romping
through carefully raked leaves.
May you feel the presence of other beings
comforted in knowing
that all of us are in the midst of change:
that it’s part of being alive and engaged in the world.
We are together in this journey
that follows the seasons
as surely as if we ourselves
were the trees or the leaves:
growing, blossoming, letting go, deepening.
In this season of change,
when merely looking out your window
offers a symbol of beauty and impermanence,
may you simply and whole-heartedly embrace it.
