Change may take some time to institute. Sometimes it is easier to make incremental changes, working daily toward a goal. Sometimes it is easier to simply and abruptly shift into a new mode. However one goes about it the decision to change is usually a good one if one’s purpose is to grow and evolve, to allow the self to expand and have new and beneficial experiences.

To change simply because one is restless or feels a need for something new, however, may not be the best time. Far better to sit with the restlessness or need until it becomes clear what it is. It may not be in fact a need to change at all but a need to remain steady and present where one already is. For often it is in the sitting, in the confrontation with what is that one changes the most. Not all change requires action. Some change just requires a shift in mood or idea. Sometimes just a change is thinking is all you need to spark new life.

To stay present in each moment of the day is to be aware that you are a physical being, for you must anchor in your physical body to remain fully present. And yet, to remain aware that you are also a spiritual being is equally important, for to be present in each moment is to bring both physical and spiritual together in awareness. It is quite a feat, for usually one or the other is off doing its own thing! The energy of awareness is the breath. Use it throughout the day to bring you back to home base, to your physical-spiritual self together as one, if even for just a moment!

When there is conflict, either within or without, there is need for change. The body, the mind, and the spirit all have their means of calling out, of signaling that something is not right, that something must be done differently if life is to progress in an evolutionary direction. When wishes for something new arise, pay attention. When dreams of new life come, pay attention. When the body refuses to do something, pay attention. When energy does not come when needed, pay attention. To take control of one’s life one must pay attention but one must also act on one’s own behalf. Change is not something to fear but something to wholeheartedly embrace. Change is good.

With the dawning of each new day comes the opportunity for change. But a morning ritual, in order to hold its power, must be carried forth through the day and into the night. For a statement or proclamation made in the early light of dawn soon loses its appeal as the evening arrives calling with its own rituals. Embrace the light of the new day all day and into the night, for it is the insights that come at dawn’s first light that carry the real truth. For it is in the between times, between dark and light, that the spirit speaks most clearly.

Navigating life’s difficulties can sometimes seem impossible. Reactions are sometimes quick and unfeeling as one is hurt or angered. Such reactions are the necessary letting go of steam and frustration yet not necessarily right. If one holds back, however, anger builds like steam under pressure and will seek eventual release in another way. Holding in and holding on to anger or hurt feelings is never a good idea. Between the two extremes there is a middle way and the middle way allows for both release and contemplation that will lead to right action.

The middle way offers a little bit of everything, as all is accepted as necessary, and yet the goal of the middle way is really to navigate life taking in all that it offers and all that it challenges yet learning detachment from it as well. To walk the middle way is to walk a path with heart, in true balance with all that is and all that will be.