Change is important for growth. We have heard this forever. But I submit that growth is important for change.
We are born. We live. We die. We pass through the entire spectrum that is our life from beginning to end, alpha to omega. And this matters not whether the time lived is 90 years, or 30, or 5. In each range of that which we call life, there is growth.
Of course, the obvious is that from the point of birth, we start getting bigger. That is growth in one manner. Another manner is growth as a person as we have to continue to grow to fit in with others, with society, with the planet. And then there is growth as a spirit entity inhabiting a human body.
The physical growth is mostly inevitable. We start getting bigger as we age. We grow from a baby into a child, into an adult. And as we do, we need to keep buying clothes as we outgrow outfits at an alarming rate (and as adults, some of us keep on doing that). We outgrow furniture, tools, toys.
As a person, we also tend to outgrow a lot of things, like toys and tools, but we also outgrow habits, responses to things, likes, dislikes. As we get older, our toys change. We’re not as fascinated by a paper doll as we used to be (though some of us still find bendy straws fascinating). We don’t find the same TV programs as fulfilling as we did when we were small. (Go look at one of the cartoons you used to watch as a child and see how it affects you today.) Our toys get more sophisticated. No longer are we amused by stuffed bears, but something turbo charged with a V8 is the ticket.
Part of that growth comes from keeping up with others, some keeping up with what we are expected to be, or what we expect ourselves to be. We learn how to interact with other people. We learn about doing things right, doing good work, and being proud of what we do. We grow in our skills, our mannerisms, our ability to handle more, different things.
As a spirit living within a human body, we grow as well. After all, we are here to learn. We are here to experience. Our spirit grows with each decision we make. Are we kind? Do we help others? Do we wallow in self pity, or do we face each challenge with gusto and drive? Either way, it is learning, and learning is growth. Our spirit needs to experience everything on all sides of the spectrum… happy sad, good, evil, rich, poor, and everything in between. It has to experience all sides, so it knows balance. And as it finds balance, it grows. And we grow as well, as a person, and as a spirit, and spiritual being.
So, we set goals. We take journeys. We learn, and in that learning, we change. And we have to change to make the goals we set. As I have many times said, setting a goal puts us on a journey. It is through that journey… what we learn, what we experience, how much we grow that molds us into what we need to be to reach the goal. So, yes, we need to change to be able to grow.
But sometimes the change we need may be a little out of reach. This is when we have to grow in order to be able to change. In what I do, I have periods where I seem to jump ahead, and periods where I feel I am stagnant. To make it to the point that I can jump ahead, I need to practice. I need to get better. I need to grow. Then when I am ready, change occurs. And applies to all walks of life, to anyone who works hard, practices what they do to be the best, and grow because of it.
So, yes, while we have to change in order to grow, we also need to grow in order to change. Embrace the change. Grow. It's what you are here to do.