“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
– Lao Tzu

The sound of the howling wind whistles in the distance. Clouds swirl around in the sky moving fast towards you. Suddenly, the temperature in the air turns cool dropping a few degrees. You know it’s coming. No man or woman can stop it. No super hero can fight it. No energy can overpower it. This unstoppable force heading your way, whether you like or not, are the winds of change.

The winds of change come in many forms. Some are simple and easy like a gentle breeze brushing quietly across your face. Maybe it’s starting a new hobby, finding a new friend, or updating the décor in your home. With these changes, positive emotions arise creating joy, happiness or relief. Smooth and delightful transitions feel refreshing like cool winds on a hot summer day or opening the windows after a long, harsh winter allowing fresh air to swoop into your room.

Other changes are severe like a violent tornado. The winds come with a fierce and powerful force knocking you off your feet. Windows are blown out with glass exploding into millions of pieces. Your house is uprooted and lifted up into the air turning your world upside down. Creating mass destruction, everything you hold dear is devastated and destroyed. All you can do is hunker down and cover until the storm calms down.

These winds of change are the hardest to deal with and recover from. Maybe your tornado was divorce, failed friendship, job loss, foreclosure on your home, death of a loved one, or serious illness. Even though these changes are difficult, they create an opportunity to rebuild and change your life into something greater.

We also experience the winds of change in between gentle breezes and violent tornadoes. Some winds are strong making it hard to drive straight on the highway. Others are hot making our eyes sting. Sometimes the winds are bone chilling cold drilling deep into our bodies. Or maybe the winds are mild, but strong enough to blow things around.

Whatever the winds of changes are in your life, usually they’re difficult, painful, uncomfortable and exhausting. And because change is hard, it’s the one thing we resist the most pushing it away. So we fight change with all our might. We stomp our feet saying, “No, no, no, I don’t want things to change!” But when we fight the winds of change, we are fighting against Mother Nature. And ultimately, it’s a fight she will win.

Change is scary because we’re pushed out of our comfort zone walking into the unknown. But, change is necessary for deeper soul growth and understanding. It forces us to wake up and realize what’s happening in our lives. We look for insights seeking answers to questions of the true nature of things. Without change, we become dull and numb. But with change, we grow and evolve learning more about the world and ourselves.

With change being hard and challenging, how can we make it easier?

Go with the Flow
The biggest reason change is hard is not the change itself, but our clinging to our desires and the past that causes pain and suffering. We try so hard to hold on to what once was and what we wanted. Grasping these moments is like trying to catch the wind. It just doesn’t work.

When the winds of changes flow into your life, the best thing to do is go with the wind. When you run against the wind, you feel resistance pushing you back instead of moving forward. If you run with the wind pushing behind you, its momentum propels you forward with little effort.

Be Positive
Focus on the positive things in your life to help deal with changes. I know it sounds honky dory, but being positive works. There’s always a gem of light to be discovered in any circumstance. If you’re having a hard time seeing the brighter things, fake it until you make it. That works too.

Time to Adjust
Give yourself time to adjust and accept changes. Eventually, you will adapt as things slowly weave into the right places of your life. Then one day, you’ll notice the changes that took you surprise have become a normal part of your daily living.

Find Support
You don’t have to go through changes alone. When things are stressful, talk to friend or journalize your feelings. Sharing your emotions helps release them giving you relief and clarity to move on.

Even though we resist change, it’s a fact of life. It’s an essential truth flowing within the nature of the universe. By moving with flow of the winds of change instead of going against them, we experience surrender and peace. Life is transient and dynamic ever evolving in each moment. When the winds of change come, and they will, embrace them while learning and growing within transforming our existence for greater joy, love and wisdom.