The currency of change

I am willing

In the process of making change willingness is the only currency that matters. If I do not have willingness no amount of consequences, knowledge, opportunities, switch in circumstances, skill, resources, or help that I have will bring about change. 

My willingness to change is motivated only by affliction or beauty.  Experiencing the debilitating pain, sorrow, and fear of affliction helps me to come to the reality of how bad things have gotten.  Sometimes it is referred to as hitting rock bottom.  When you realize that you have fallen as far as you can take, and to go any further ultimately lead to destruction of life or whatever else you value can be a sobering experience.  I suppose everyone has their own idea of what that is, and that some never find it before their time is gone.  In that place it can be so unbearably painful that no other option remains.

The more graceful motivator for change comes from recognizing the exquisite beauty that life has to offer.  I see that beauty in the everyday courage of others, inspirational works of literature, movies, music, art, the vulnerability of someone sharing their own story of struggle, looking into the eyes of my daughters, and the feeling that comes in the moments where I am at my best and doing the thing I was meant to do. Beauty can set the wheels of change in motion fueled by the willingness it creates.

Once willingness is obtained I can make the type of firm commitment to change necessary to have resilience through the challenges that will inevitably come.  Today I will let the beautiful possibilities of what can be, and the pain of what has been, overflow the coffers of willingness within me.