As I’m sure you have noticed, monumental change is taking place throughout the world. Catalytic shifts caused by fires, floods and earthquakes, and wars, economic stress and political stalemates are interrupting lives that once thrived on simplicity and stability.
Swift changes from out of the blue that turn your world upside down in a heartbeat and changes that are defined by a torturous slowness are taking place — changes that often are unpredictable and feel unstoppable.
A mom might say it looks and feels like we’re in the process of labor. One baby takes two hours to be born and another baby takes two days, but the outcome is that your life is changed forever.
Worldwide painful labor is taking place at the level of individuals, cities, states and countries. To witness or be a part of this collective change through disaster or tragedy can be absolutely devastating. Lives are often lost, maimed and shattered.
This is the time when people declare it’s the end of the world. Wrong. It’s the possibility of a new world — an opportunity for each person to move in a new direction, to draw a line in the sand and stand on the side of positive change.
A time of collective and individual transformation. It’s a time of hope for a weary world. But there are no guarantees of a new, shiny world. When opportunity presents itself, it’s up to us to be prepared and ready to meet it. As with the birth of a child, you can be a responsible parent or irresponsible. The choice is yours.
So why in the world is so much change taking place?
It’s taking place because the collective consciousness is dictating it. An example: On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, the border separating Western from Eastern Germany, came down. A symbol of the Cold War, it could no longer stand when enough people became unified in thought.
To unify is to become one — single-minded. At a group level, when enough people have the same intent and share the same desire, collectively they become quite powerful. Presently within the Middle East you can literally watch country by country how the collective is redefining people’s lives.
During this time of personal and collective transition, emotional contagion can run out-of-control like an uncontainable wildfire. Passions spike high creating deep divides. “I’m right, you’re wrong,” paves a solitary one-way path to nowhere.
The world is being turned inside out, and what was once cleverly hidden is being exposed. Greed, selfishness, dishonesty, abuse — the many forms of dysfunction revealed. We’re cleaning up our acts. We’re moving away from outdated methods, modalities and moralities into a period of innovation and inspiration. Competitiveness is giving way to cooperation. The status quo is shifting, changing.
The industrial age is fading and a new era of connectivity is here. Through technology our lives are intertwined as never before. It’s no longer about me or you, it’s about us. It’s about the collective, the average ordinary person connected with millions of others, deciding that they want a better world. They want it so much that many are willing to die for it.
Change is never easy. Ralph Waldo Emerson said in 1841, “Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit. People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”
What is needed now is the willingness to change. Those who resist change will struggle the most. Those who embrace it will be uplifted and energized. It’s an exciting time to be alive, to be part of worldwide change that is giving us the opportunity to shift humanity into a higher gear.
Stay tuned for next week’s column on how to use the universe to mop up our messes.
— Susan Ann Darley is a creativity coach and writer who works with artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to discover, use and market their talents. She offers a free 30-minute coaching session. Follow her on Twitter: @Coach7700. For more information, click here, e-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 805.845.3036.
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