You Know What They Say About Change...

To attain knowledge, add things every day, to attain wisdom, remove things every day.

—Lao-Tse,
Tao Te Ching

We can, and should, learn something every day—but we should remove something every day, too. Use and apply the knowledge and experience you gain as you learn new things, and realize that what you used before may not work now because the environment is different today from what it was in the past. That's where true wisdom comes in; it's the ability to hone and fine-tune the information you get so that it can be put to the most practical use in the moment.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.

—Maya Angelou,
poet and author

You have two options. You can either change the situation, or you can change your mind about the situation. How many times do you react negatively to things that happen to you? Is your first thought, "Nothing good can come of this"? If so, you might want to ask yourself some important questions: "How can I change this? What can I do differently? How can I attack it? If I can't change it right now, how can I change my mind and my attitude?"

There are very few things that are as omnipresent as change. Adversity happens often, but not every second. We don't reach our goals every day. We're not always negotiating; we're not always creating. But we are always changing. We all pray for miracles in our lives. Consider change as a miracle and your life will be full of wonder.

Change can either challenge us or threaten us. Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you.

—Marsha Sinetar,
writer

What you believe influences how you deal with change. If you believe that change is difficult to handle, it will be. If you believe that change is exciting, it will be. The mind is, after all, what separates us from other species.

No other living beings, though they contain hearts, lungs, stomachs, eyes, ears, mouths, and even brains, have the power of the human mind. No other living beings have the ability to change their surroundings and their circumstances based on how they change themselves. Only we have this extraordinary power of transformation. We can start out poor and end up wealthy. We can change ourselves from illiterate to highly educated. We can turn disadvantages into advantages by using this wondrous tool handed out free to each and every one of us.

That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along.

—Lisa Alther,
writer

We all know how difficult it can be to make changes. You may decide to make some changes that are not universally approved of. Your friends, your colleagues, even your loved ones may tell you you're making a mistake. But you have to be true to your heart, especially when it involves moving away from people who have been bringing you down.

Although we need to move away from people who pull us down, we are reluctant to do so because we're afraid that we won't have that person to go to in the future. But the unhappiness and the bad energy of the relationship override the benefit. There's no need to be afraid of letting go of this relationship. Instead, you should feel comfortable and realize that as this person moves away, somebody else will come along and see the new you who has decided to take a new path and a better way of life.

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.

—Jacob M. Braude,
writer

Many a relationship has failed over time because one person was determined to change another. It's an impossible task. People don't make lasting changes unless they want to make them. The best way to help someone change is to lead by example. There's an old saying that goes, "What you're doing speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you're saying."

Actions really do speak louder than words. So the actions you take have much more influence over another person's behavior than any lecture might. Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." If the other person does not or cannot follow your example, it may be time to move on to a better situation.

Some people change their ways when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.

—Caroline Schroeder,
writer

We have all experienced what I call a "light bulb" moment—a moment of truth where an idea suddenly becomes clear to us and we know with uncanny certainty what we need to do next. It can happen in the most unexpected times: when you're in the middle of an ordinary conversation and someone says something to you that just hits home. It can happen when you read a quote whose meaning and importance becomes immediately clear. It can happen during a quiet walk in the woods or in the middle of a game you're playing with your children. These are the quiet moments of change.

Some people just see a good idea and they change...they see one word, one quote. There are other situations, however, that are. more like lightning bolts—adverse situations where things happen fast. We lose a job, a spouse, or our home.

It's usually when the heat is on that we see our true selves. That's when you say, "Wait a minute. I've got a choice here. I can die or I can live. The only way to live is to make a change, and make a big one." Adversity often brings on change in difficult times, but there is often great strength that comes with it.

Nearly all great civilizations that perished did so because they had crystalized, because they were incapable of adapting themselves to new conditions, new methods, new points of view. It is as though people would literally rather die than change.

—Eleanor Roosevelt,
U.S. first lady and humanitarian

I Dare You...

Be the first to make a change. Be the first to present a new idea, even if it sounds crazy. Be the first to try something new. Be the first to befriend a newcomer.

Imagine what the "first-timers" of history had to face. Would you have ridiculed Thomas Edison if he told you of his idea to light up the world? Would you have laughed at a horseless carriage or snickered at the idea of a telephone? Would you have been outraged at the thought that the world was round, that you could sail around it without falling off the edge? Or would you have had the courage of Amelia Earhart who accomplished great feats everyone said a woman could not do? Would you have been able to sit at the segregated lunch counter in Alabama in order to break the color lines? Someone has to be the first to do these things—why not you?

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.

—Harold Wilson,
British prime minister

Make a small change every day. Look at your desk and your work environment. Sometimes we let papers and other things collect on our desks so that they end up covering over important papers. Every once in a while, move those papers around. Clean out one drawer and you might be surprised at what you find. Change your work environment to make it cleaner, more organized.

You don't need to make radical changes. It's difficult to get the motivation to make a major change. Instead, I dare you to make small, directed changes every day to alter and improve the way you spend your time.

Life is made of millions of moments, but we live only one of these moments at a time. As we begin to change this moment, we begin to change our lives.

—Trinidad Hunt,
writer