Feel Your Resistance to Change and Fly Anyway!

One of my favorite quotes, which I’ve used before, is “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Every time a crisis hits us, or we’re faced with a loss or new problem, or we’re simply experiencing resistance to change, we tend to think the world is over and we want to wallow in our cocoons. As we retreat deeper into the inner-darkness of our cocoons, we may fearfully, angrily scream at God “Oh, if only I could have one day, just one day, without a single problem or headache! Can’t you arrange for that God?”

I remember frequently shouting that very statement at God almost daily. I just wanted one day with no inner-insecurities, no threatening people, no self-hatred, no problems. I wanted to be in my cocoon, away from the world and completely safe. I wanted sunshine, Captain Kangaroo and chocolate chip cookies. In effect, I wanted childhood warm-fuzzies, comfortable sameness, peace and understanding. I wanted to go back to being the caterpillar of my childhood before I entered the cocoon that led to adult life.

But no one can stay in that cocoon forever. Physically we change. Just as the caterpillar evolves into a beautiful butterfly, we physically evolve from gangly kids into beautiful adults. Our wings begin to sprout as our bodies grow and there’s no stopping that from happening. We can, however, stop ourselves from growing mentally and emotionally into adults. And this is where we get into trouble. We see changes in life, especially painful ones, as threatening instead of seeing them as golden opportunities for further growth. This means we need to rethink our attitudes toward change.

Change is a no-brainer. It is the one sure bet in life. Change happens every second of every day. Life moves forward and we have a choice: We can either move forward with life, or we can retreat to our cocoons. Moving forward with open hearts is the only path toward sacred metamorphosis. Moving forward by seeing all changes as new opportunities to spread our wings keeps us in the spiritual palm of God. It’s allowing God to guide us through all of life’s changes. Retreating to our cocoons guarantees inner-turmoil. It’s a war against reality, and it’s a war we will always lose.

Comfort is a wonderful thing, but not when it keeps us grounded. As long as we are fearful of change, we will refuse to spread our wings and fly. We will simply see change as the end of the world, instead of seeing change as the beginning of new life. We will remain caterpillars instead of evolving into the gorgeous butterflies that God created us to be.

Allow yourself to feel resistance to change. Ask your Higher Power to help you explore your feelings, to delve into your resistance and your fears. Talk to friends about it. In doing so you will be experiencing the process of slowly evolving into a new creation by allowing yourself to openly explore and experience reality as it presents its many changes to you. 

The more we are open to exploring our feelings of resistance, instead of running from them, the easier it will be to face unexpected changes in our lives. And before we know it, we will find ourselves freely evolving into glorious new creations who are experiencing a wonderful newness of life; a newness that allows our souls to shine!