Verified by 
There is a difference between making change and allowing change.
The dominant perspective in our society on how to grow or make transitions from one state of being to another – be it a global organisation or a single person – is mainly about how to take action and how to make change happen. The way we use words when we talk about change indicates, on a subconscious level of our collective mind, that in order to make any kind of change, force is required and active action is necessary. But humans are habitual beings who do not like to feel ‘forced’ into new patterns and behaviours. This is the reason why speaking about change in terms of ‘action’ and ‘making’ creates quiet resistance and involuntary inertia, before we even start the process of changing.
If we shift perspective and look at change as a natural and inevitable part of reality – which, by the way, is the prevailing state in nature – then creating real and lasting change becomes more a question of how to allow change to happen, rather than make it happen.
The way I see it, as a species we are not reluctant to change per se. We just don’t like the act of making it. Making a change indicates that it takes an effort or use of force, which we subconsciously interpret as a thing that requires energy from us. Allowing change, on the other hand, signifies effortlessness and ease – giving us time to accept and embrace it, while at the same time being invigorated with energy by it. In both cases change occurs, only with very different results.
So, how do we create situations and circumstances where allowing change is as natural as breathing in and out?
Leaders who understand the subtle, yet very powerful, quantum energies at play when people interact, know intuitively that in order to create smooth transitions from one state to another, they first need to ‘mimic’ nature by creating a ‘culture of allowing’ in the workplace. Let me give you an example.
Some time ago I worked with a group of creative people from one of the largest advertising businesses in the world. They were all high performers who loved their creative jobs but found themselves “stuck” because their company was going through a major change. Shifting from being a conventional advertisement company into an innovative, global social-media-using add business was creating frustration in everyone. The inertia was connected to a resistance to using social media for work. During our workshop I asked each one to write down their biggest fear about using social media on a post-it-note and put it up on a wall. When everyone was done a pattern emerged. Almost all the post-it-notes were related to the fear of making a mistake and failing. It was so obvious that no further analyse was necessary. Instead their CEO stood up and said: “People, we have to plunge in, have fun, make mistakes and learn from them as we go. There is no other way.”
When we allow ‘mistakes’ to be a part of the learning process – by using ‘failure’ as feedback, which helps us grow and get even better at what we are doing – fear is eliminated and creativity unleashed. Nourishing creativity in this way allows imagination to play freely, which inevitably allows change to simply happen. Just as effortlessly as nature allows the slow, steady and perpetuating movement of change to renew and invigorate her.
We are the ones creating our own reality by how we interpret and perceive it. Quantum physics demonstrates that reality needs an observer to exist – an observer who choses what he/she wants to perceive. So in other words, what we choose to perceive, we create. Weather we see “mistakes” or “opportunities to learn” is a question of choice. And yes, change is constant and thus inevitable, but we are the ones choosing the type and quality of that change. And that means it is up to us. It is about what we choose. We cannot avoid the change, but we sure can point it in the ‘right’ direction. Like martial arts masters we need to ‘dance’ with creation by allowing what we like and diverting what we do not like in the flow of constant change.
In this way, change becomes not just a goal to reach, but a tool for us to use so we can grow in our consciousness and see more facets of who we are. It becomes something we actually are in the present moment, and not just something we plan for and make happen in the future. Instead of doing, change becomes a natural state of being.
Here are some simple things to follow if we want to create an atmosphere in which change is smoothly allowed, without the friction of doubt and resistance:
Know your self.
Trust your self.
Interact honestly with others.
Focus on the solutions.
Always look for the best in others.
This is a very good and easy way to start an avalanche of positive change, without any effort.
Follow Gordana Biernat on Twitter.
