Change and Stability: Assume Both, Worship Neither

Navigating change will arguably provide us with life’s greatest challenges. It is simultaneously presented as an essential contributing skill towards both success and failure. The lean mantra to fail fast and let any subsequent change be driven by feedback is most often seen as the best chance to achieve the former over the latter.

It won’t come as any surprise that I support lean principles wholeheartedly, and am not about to discard or disrespect the combination of engineering excellence and scientific discovery modern lean has evolved to in the last 5 or so centuries (depending on which ‘lean historian’ you subscribe to).

Explore the value in where you are

What I invite you to explore is the opposite side of the coin – the value and contentment in where you currently are and what you already have.

In his Discourses, Epictetus asks a probing question:

“Your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word ‘all freedoms.’ For what would you sell these things?”

The answer should be “for nothing and never”, but as easy as that sounds when read from a page, we all know how hard those choices become in the cold light of day when fate presents us with traumatic and painful events. The advice I give is borrowed from another great philosopher (who in turn borrowed much from Epictetus):

“Whatever anyone does or says, I must be good, just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this, whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my color.”  Marcus Aurelius

This speaks directly about the often-undersold power in choosing not to change. Crucially and specifically, not changing your essential nature and dedication to your highest values.   

In so many contexts you will hear the phrase ‘simple, but not easy’. It has been applied many times, by many people, to so many things. It is most often linked to change, and rightly should be part of understanding and evaluating when change is necessary and valuable. It is equally interwound with our power to choose; the catalyst of change.

I think there are 3 clear disciplines on the path to a fulfilled life; a life of joy, goodness and celebration. The ability to:

• Stand Fast: To not react before first determining whether action is necessary and valuable.

• Submit: To accept what comes our way; to let both the powerful and mundane wash over us equally, without the inevitable pain that arises when we lose the battle to change what is outside our control.

• Move: To know and accept that the path to success may never be clear, and that a plan which shows the general direction we should move in is enough. Move decisively in the right direction and re-evaluate often – quintessential lean.

In the past week, I was reminded that our capacity to experience joy is not something that can be taken from us. As any freedom we hold, it is our choice to surrender it. This personal experience gave me the opportunity to practice those disciplines; to see a little clearer how to stop, listen and act. The action in the end was unexpected in the beginning.

It is easy to become angry, passionate, and want to act.

It is easy to become angry, to feel passion, to want and act for the wanting. Try to resist action long enough to understand the value it will deliver. Measure that value in how the action you’re inclined to take will enrich your life or the lives of others.

It is in our nature to resist; to fear being washed away in the proverbial flood. But if resistance were futile, if you really could not hope to control the actions and reactions of others; the movement of atoms within the physical world, as you certainly cannot; then could you instead take that time and energy and dedicate it to observing the beauty in what happens around you; warm breath on a cool autumn morning; seasons that move life closer to an end and then in the next cycle back towards beginning.

We fear the wrong choice.

We fear the wrong choice, hesitant to step out on the path without everything we need upon our backs. But ‘everything’ will always be more than you can carry without becoming bent and crippled, and how then can you see the way. Carry less, stand straight, and see paradise in the distance (sometimes a squint and some poetic license helps). Take a step without an aching back.

How do we pause our instant emotional reactions?

Writing this phrases the obvious question – how do we pause our instant emotional reactions; accept what we see as less than perfect; step forth without invincible armor?

I think the answer depends – the best answers often do. If you are inclined to explore meditation you may find the stillness there that allows you to pause before you react (perhaps my most challenging discipline). For myself, mindfulness and practice are the right tools. For many faith and prayer are equivalent. I daresay there are other routes, but the essential ingredients are immutable – stillness and practice. Without the former you are unlikely to find the peace necessary to view your life calmly from within while a storm rages upon you. And without the latter even the best and brightest will fail at any discipline sooner or later.

Simple, but not easy

So simple, but not easy. Start by practicing the right things (kindness, forgiveness, acceptance), and look for the easy wins (the sun on your face, the rain against the glass, the rich aroma of fresh coffee). And decide – perhaps the most important step. Decide to begin your practice. And decide to pick yourself up and start again whenever you react without thinking, refuse to accept another’s actions, or procrastinate when you know there is work that needs to be done.

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About the Author:

KYLE RICHARDSON

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