Humans are hardwired to resist change. Our brains interpret change as a threat causing a response of fear, flight, freeze, or fight. Whenever we face change our bodies jump into this threat response causing our stress and anxiety to increase, making a peace-filled life impossible.
Over the past month we’ve discussed ways to cultivate peace in our lives including practicing gratitude and making decisions that support our priorities. Today, we will explore how embracing change promotes a life abounding in peace.
Acknowledging Your Current Season
The Scriptures tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that there is a season for every activity: life and death, rejoicing and mourning, speaking and staying silent, just to name a few. Even the earth is programmed with seasons that highlight the beauty and consistency of change. We can expect that same seasons and times in our own lives just like the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “the only constant in life is change.”
As a mother it is easy to think of the seasons in my own life based on the ages of my children. For example, the season of caring for a newborn where life suddenly operates on a very basic schedule of eating, sleeping, and diaper changes. All other activities fade away.
Figuring out the season you’re in is a challenge that takes soul searching and personal reflection. My current season is one of listening more carefully to those around me and encouraging and supporting my family through challenges. I’m also acknowledging difficulties while celebrating minor but mighty victories. This season requires me to make room in my schedule for flexibility and to prioritize filling my own cup, so I am prepared to love and encourage those around me in greater measure.
Making these shifts acknowledges my own limitations and gives me permission to focus on what’s most important today. Embracing my current season signals my brain to accept change without triggering my threat response, avoiding the fight or flight reaction, which in turn allows me to maintain a peace-filled heart.
Identifying Small Changes that have Big Impacts
Changes in life are not always entire seasons. Some smaller and harder to notice. Recently, I’ve adjusted medication dosage, shifts in kid’s schedules, and a location change for a routine activity. Though these changes haven’t been life-altering, they resulted in modifications to sleeping habits, driving patterns, and schedule demands. I’m better equipped to maintain a peace-filled life when I acknowledge these smaller changes and the ripple effect they have on my time, energy, emotions, and more.
If you speed through life, ignoring the minor changes occurring around you, it leads to increased stress and anxiety and sometimes even results in a negative impact physically. Changes in your physical body are often warning signs that your behavior and current habits need to be altered. Listen to your body. Are there any activities or behaviors causing headaches, poor quality sleep, or indigestion? A mentor once told me, “Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.” If you are tired, give yourself permission to take that nap. Your body and likely everyone around you will thank you.
Adjusting Your Expectations
One struggle for me when it comes to embracing change and accepting my current season is letting go of my own expectations and the expectations of others. I’ve been through seasons that have allowed me to be very active in things outside my home. But I’ve also had periods where all I could manage were my own basic needs. Those seasons were particularly hard because more was left undone than done. I was disappointed and I felt I was disappointing others.
During those times of disappointment God reminded me that my value is not determined by what I accomplish. Scripture says that we should not live for the approval of others, but live for an audience of only one, Jesus (Galatians 1:10 and Matthew 6:24). You are loved and approved by God not because of anything you do or don’t do but because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross.
So, accept the changes occurring all around you. Examine the season of life God has you in right now and identify how you can create new behaviors and thinking that fully grasp your current season. A few short weeks ago a pastor at my church shared, “Change is inevitable. The world around you will be in constant flux, but your internal world doesn’t have to be.” Welcoming the inevitable changes of life trains your brain to shift from fear to acceptance. Your inner life does not have to be subjected to the constant flux of the world because when you embrace change, peace will fill your days.