Kathryn Petras - Change Happens: A Compendium of Wisdom

A Compendium of Wisdom Kathryn & Ross Petras Workman Publishing | New York Contents Introduction Yes, change happens. We all know that. And we also know theres nothing we can do about it... or so we all too often think. But thats not necessarily the case. Change is inevitable.

Change has always happened and will always happen, and we cant stop it. And we have two options: We can try to resist it (and lose) or we can face it and grow with it. So theres really only one good option: to embrace change. And thats what this book is designed to help you do. We started collecting words of wisdom about change because the two of us have been through a series of major life changesfrom the illness then death of our mother to moves (both of us in the same summer), from a cancer diagnosis to divorce and remarriage to unexpected business success, from moving to another country to the marriage of a child. In fact, when we look back, we realize that the one constant in the past couple of years has been change.

Some bad, some good, but all of it unavoidable. We had no choice but to go with the flow. Of course, it wasnt always that easy. As poet Audre Lorde said, Change means growth, and growth can be painful. But what helped us as avid curators of quotes was seeking out the insights and advice of other people whove faced change, embraced change, and grown because of it. These are people from across time and from around the world, people from all walks of life, ranging from Patti Smith to Rm, from Stephen Hawking to Maya Angelou.

The insights and advice compiled here were companions for us on our journey from point A to point B, from the known to the unknown. As with us, youll find that sometimes the words will comfort you and remind you youre not alone. Other times, theyll galvanize you. Still other times theyll give you that peace at the center of all the flux around you. But they always will confirm one thing: You can do this. You can make that move, you can reach out into new areas.

You can bear the unbearable changes, you can dive into new exciting possibilities. In short, you can change and you can change well. So really this book isnt just about change. Its about living your life to its best potential. For, as futurist Alvin Toffler said so succinctly: Change is not merely necessary to lifeit is life. Were in a free fall into the future.

We dont know where were going. Things are changing so fast, and always when youre going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. Its a very interesting shift of perspective and thats all it is... joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes. Joseph Campbell mythologist A accepting I can change the story.

I am the story. Begin. Jeanette Winterson writer I dont know what has happened to the world, but youre up next in the batters box. Neil deGrasse Tyson astrophysicist I used to want to change the world. Now Im open to letting it change me. Po Bronson journalist Everything changes.

As long as we live, we have to accept this truth without knowing. Without being aware of this truth, you cannot live in this world. Even though you try to escape from it, your effort is in vain. Shunryu Suzuki monk adapting You cant stop the waves, but you can learn to surf. Osel Tendzin teacher We should not try to alter circumstances but to adapt ourselves to them as they really are, just as sailors do. They dont try to change the winds or the sea but ensure that they are always ready to adapt themselves to conditions.

In a flat calm they use the oars; with a following breeze they hoist full sail; in a head wind they shorten sail or heave to. Adapt yourself to circumstances in the same way. Bion of Borysthenes philosopher Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Natures inexorable imperative. H. G. Wells writer It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done.

I am living proof of that: It can be done. Kurt Vonnegut writer It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself. Leon C. Megginson professor You learn more by adapting. When somebody has to adapt to you, youre not learning anything; theyre learning it. But when youre doing the adapting, you find out more ways to do things.

Wes Montgomery jazz musician Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times. Niccol Machiavelli historian/philosopher Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking physicist When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, dont adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. Confucius philosopher The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings. Kakuzo Okakura writer All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt.

Without it, no species would survive. Yann Martel writer B beauty of change Change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass. John Steinbeck writer The reality is that were all in the wilderness, and we have to survive on our own, and things constantly change and if we dont accept that, then were just trying to fool ourselves. But the beauty of wilderness is that sometimes you can wake up in the morning and feel so sweet and whole. Sophie B. Hawkins musician Even now, I still believe metamorphosis is the greatest beauty.

David Vann writer We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky. Walter Mosley writer After a great blow, or crisis, after the first shock and then after the nerves have stopped screaming and twitching, you settle down to the new condition of things and feel that all possibility of change has been used up.

You adjust yourself, and are sure that the new equilibrium is for eternity.... But if anything is certain it is that no story is ever over, for the story which we think is over is only a chapter in a story which will not be over, and it isnt the game that is over, it is just an inning, and that game has a lot more than nine innings. When the game stops it will be called on account of darkness. But it is a long day. Robert Penn Warren writer the big picture It is almost banal to say so yet it needs to be stressed continually: all is creation, all is change, all is flux, all is metamorphosis. Henry Miller writer Change begets change.

Nothing propagates so fast. Charles Dickens writer Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still. David Foster Wallace writer The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. Marcus Aurelius philosopher/emperor All things change, and we change with them. Matthias Borbonius alchemist Nothing endures but change.