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

---

Focus Your Attention

Lately, there has been a collective challenge to avoid being... Read More

Life Can Seem Unfair Until We Change Our Perspective! See How!

Empty, Hollow, Nothing?.those words shout the sound of disappointment and... Read More

Do You Neglect The Power Of Your Mind?

James Allen, who wrote the masterpiece, As a Man Thinketh,... Read More

Attitude = Altitude, Its Really Up To You!

Quote of the week:"Of all the attitudes we can acquire,... Read More

The Ultimate In Positive Thinking?

I will never forget an evening in 2003, when I... Read More

The Trouble with the Mind

Bernard always had a problem with money.He was always lacking... Read More

Mastering Mindfulness: A Thinkers Ode to Meditation

I'm lucky.When I was fifteen, I was the sole survivor... Read More

You Are A Winner!

You are already a winner, and so am I.Although you... Read More

Then My Boss Said, Take That Fear And Shove It!

Hey gang; Ok it's time to create some good habits.... Read More

My Attitudes

"If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing... Read More

Do You Love Yourself?

So, do you love yourself?Shouldn't really be a difficult question... Read More

A Rain Secret To Change Your Mind

Heard of a raindance? It is a ritual used by... Read More

Watch Your Mouth

Ever had one of those mothers, or grandmothers, who would... Read More

Universal Thought Systems/Forgiveness

Philosophy of Forgiveness:The most powerful tool that human beings possess... Read More

Thinking About Attitude

Attitude, has a way of preening itself, often without awareness... Read More

Heres Your Calm During The Storm Of Discouragement

Have you ever known someone like this? "A person who... Read More

The Power of Inner Dialogue

Are you aware of your inner dialogue? If not, you... Read More

Affirmations to Improve Your Life

An affirmation is a positive assertion, a solemn declaration, a... Read More

The Power of Positive Thinking - Turn a Bad Day Around!

Turn brutality into kindness. There is no small deed and... Read More

As A Man Thinketh...

"For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is... Read More

Why Motivational Posters Arent Cheesy!

I don't want to say people are basically negative but?..if... Read More

Harness The Power Of Words In Your Life

Speaking comes to most people as naturally as breathing. On... Read More

In The Midst Of A Storm, Theres Something More!

Have you truly tried and still failed? Have you pushed... Read More

Failure is Celebration Time

Failure is my favorite subject. For I have spent my... Read More

Positive Thinking on Negativity

The other day I bought an unusual piece of software:... Read More

How to Stay Positive in a Negative World

Gail's StoryGail is a friend of mine and she was... Read More

Mindfulness and Money: Monkeying Around

Kasia is a talented landscape designer who speaks several languages,... Read More

How To Have An Excellent Personality

The way to define your personality is to refine your... Read More

Top Tips for the Temporary Move

Question: "It's only three months. Or six months. Or a... Read More

Theres No Negative In My Program - Part 1

Imagine the what you could achieve if:You were 100 %... Read More

Banish Shallow Breathing And Boost Self Esteem!

You know, very often, the manner in which a person... Read More

Making Conflict Productive

Conflict is unavoidable. How we respond to it makes a... Read More

Notable Thoughts on Positive Living

I went online -- and what do I see? A... Read More