You May Not Be Able to Manage Change - But You Can Manage Your Response to It

Your response (reaction?) to change is conditioned by your entire life experience...the family you come from, your age, education, marital status, attitudes about work and about yourself. From this it follows that everyone has a unique way of perceiving and handling change. Here's an opportunity to see what your particular situation may be.

The exercise that follows is called "Life Cycle Changes". The questions you'll be answering are all about what makes you unique. There are five areas. Take a couple of minutes to write out the first answers that occur to you. Be very brief, because you may want to come back to this later and add to it or revise it.

1. Self-History. What losses, traumas and other changes have you experienced throughout your life?

2. Relationship History. What have you faced as a member of a family, work team, social group, religious organization?

3. Sex/Gender Issues. What reactions or responses to change do you sense are based upon your masculinity or femininity?

4. Ethnicity Influences. What racial or ethnic consequences does change produce for you, if any?

5. Maturity Level. Where are you in your life cycle ? youth, young adult, adult, mature adult, senior citizen ? and how does change affect your outlook on your age, maturity, ideas about mortality and so forth?

Now that you have these responses recorded, you can begin to see what bottlenecks you may be encountering as change occurs ? or as you attempt to initiate change from within. To illustrate this, let's look at an actual case...your responses to a real transition in your personal past. Complete the next exercise, called "Your Personal Response to Change" by answering the six questions that follow this introductory paragraph: Looking back over your life you'll notice that there have been a number of significant changes - we call them "transitions" - for instance, from childhood at home to childhood at school, young person in high school to young person in college, student to worker, single person to coupled person?and so on.

Select a major transition you've gone through, then, on a piece of paper, write your answers to these questions:

1. What was the greatest difficulty you had to face?

2. How did you overcome this difficulty or fear?

3. When did you begin to feel that you would get through the change and feel OK?

4. What new things did you need to learn in order to handle and manage the change?

As you can see, you've already handled this and other major transitions, and there were specific things you needed to do, to know, to have, to understand and to act upon. The good news, then, is that you can do this again, anytime, in any situation.

Copyright 2002, 2005 Optimum Performance Associates/Paul McNeese.

Paul McNeese is CEO of Optimum Performance Associates, a consulting firm specializing in transitional and transformational change for individuals and institutions through publication. His publishing company, OPA Publishing, is an advocacy for self-publishing authors of informational, instructional, inspirational and insightful nonfiction.

Email: pmcneese@opapublishing.com
Websites: http://www.opapublishing.com and http://www.opapresents.com

---

Universal Thought Systems Language #3

Before we are able to use the Universal Thought System... Read More

Think Positive: Using Affirmations to Create Health, Wealth and Beauty

You've heard the buzzwords: Attitude is everything! Change your perspective!... Read More

Positioned For Success - The Refined Art Of Taking A Chance

ARE YOU IN... OR OUT?Are you in or out of... Read More

Take a Gratitude Break

An old Joni Mitchell song reminds us, "don't it always... Read More

Yourself

With the beginning of a new year, are you happy... Read More

Time To Give Up Resentment

Resentment isn't a spectacular emotion, but it is long-lasting and... Read More

How to Begin to Overcome Shyness

The one thing that is absolutely vital to overcoming shyness... Read More

Stream of Consciousness

One thing that is important to realize about thought: one... Read More

Decide Your Own Destiny

Human nature is created so that you can choose your... Read More

How To Talk Your Way To Success

Smart folk have always realised how vital it is to... Read More

How to Cope With Your Inner Food Critic

Every day that I eat EnergyRich? Food, I get almost... Read More

Dealing With Negative People Made Easy

I was playing tennis today with one of my tennis... Read More

How to Use Fear to Your Advantage

The invisible force surrounded him, squeezing tightly around his chest.... Read More

Growing Optimistically

Spring is here at last! The season brings with it... Read More

The Map Is Not the Territory

Just in an average day we can experience many things... Read More

Today, A Wonderful Day

Believe me, today is the most wonderful day of your... Read More

Acceptance as a Path to Inner Peace

Inevitably in life we will face disappointment from time to... Read More

Tips on Boosting Your Self-Confidence

How you feel about yourself truly does affect your interaction... Read More

Peak Performance

Peak Performance. It means being at the top of your... Read More

Enhance Wellness by Doing Something Different.

Many people would say that it is absolute madness to... Read More

Shifting Your Paradigm

What is a paradigm? In my own words, a paradigm... Read More

Quick Fixes: Happiness In A Bottle

This is the age of the Quick Fix - the... Read More

It?s All About Beliefs

Changing your mindset can have a significant impact on achieving... Read More

Knowing the Power of Positive Thinking

In the self-help and wellness industry, a mission has been... Read More

Affecting Positive Results Through Affirmations

Last time we talked about how to begin building the... Read More

Seeing Through Fear

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is... Read More

Thanks For The Rejection!

It sounds a little masochistic, but I actually appreciate being... Read More

Comparison - The Great Destroyer

In speaking of comparison we need to be aware that... Read More

Sexual Abuse. A Story From A Survivor.

Uncle Liam was very kind to me again. He gave... Read More

The Power Of Appreciation

As we enter this holiday season, and this time of... Read More

Teens And Positive Living

If you are a parent, it is up to you... Read More

Having the Attitude I am the Greatest!

While trying to ignore my teen daughters rap music a... Read More

Where Do You Get A Positive Attitude You Asked?

How are you? Where do you get a positive attitude... Read More