Challenges of Change

When we talk about change in this spot we are usually referring to organizational or personal change. How do we deal with a change so drastic we have to re-think our lives? That's what the people who lived through Hurricane Katrina are dealing with now. Imagine your home, your place of work, where you buy food, where you go to the doctor, and your car all wiped away in one fell swoop. It seems beyond comprehension, doesn't it? Yet our teaching on change reminds us that everything - even our very lives - is impermanent. We count on physical things being there because they provide comfort but should we attach ourselves to them and derive our attitude from what they give us? For those who live in and around New Orleans, that must be a challenge. Yet, many of them now see being bussed to another city or state an opportunity. Once again, life gives us a new start. It is a never-ending cycle, isn't it? Nature, in its innate majesty displays this lesson over and over. Each year leaves dry-up and fall off the tree, only to be replaced by blooms the following spring. Of course, we've been given a free will to determine how we will perceive what happens to us. In nature, it's instinctive. My heart goes out to those who've suffered from the disasters of this year's hurricanes and I hope that their lives will experience a rebirth, too.