May 2010 Newsletter  www.ComposeYourLife.ca Do you know one or two people who would benefit from receiving these articles? Let them know and encourage them to subscribe by forwarding them this link: www.composeyourlife.ca/newsletter CONTENTS 1) Spring is in the air 2) Intimidated by change, or loving it? 3) 5 Ways to embrace change 4) Quotable quotes   SPRING IS IN THE AIR – Connect with your own inner garden There’s no doubt about it – spring arrived early in Montreal this year! In fact, I found myself puttering in my garden a good month before this was possible other years, intensely aware of the re-emergence of new life, growth and beauty. The anticipation inherent in this season never fails to fill me with hope, and motivates me to share this wonderful positive energy.   As a result, I am offering a complimentary coaching session to anyone looking for motivation and support in reconnecting with their own inner garden. No need to wait for another season to discover what beautiful seeds are waiting to be cultivated!  You will leave the session with a clearer vision of what is important to you (your values and passions), what you have to offer (your potential and unique skill sets) and the significance of your contribution. In addition, you will experience the tangible benefits of support and structure, validation and encouragement. You will be recognized as someone capable of composing your life, choosing what seeds to nourish and bring to fruition. It’s like adding fertilizer and watering your garden, while someone holds the hose for you! Please contact me at info@ComposeYourLife.ca to arrange your complimentary session this season.   Cherry trees in bloom: Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (April 2010) INTIMIDATED BY CHANGE, OR LOVING IT? Have you ever noticed how the mere mention of the word “change” can inspire totally different reactions in people? For some it is enough to invoke strong feelings of insecurity and unease, whereas for others it is the key to inspiration and positive energy. As a coach, I am curious about how people relate to change in their lives, and in particular how reframing the role of change can support life-enriching transformations. I have one friend who literally gets heart palpitations whenever a minute change to her habitual routine is suggested. Change is automatically viewed as “the enemy”, a threat to the stability of the status quo. Even when the status quo is less than acceptable, it remains a familiar entity and thus offers a form of security to the limbic (emotional) brain, modeled as it is upon habitual patterns.  Fear of the unknown thus paralyzes the ability to envision multiple possibilities and choices. The individual is reduced to having the mindset of a victim, one who can only submit to changes rather than actively participate in them with awareness and full presence or even exhilaration. When we observe the realm of nature, we understand better the unending cycle of transformation and impermanence upon which all life is based. The plant beginning as a seed undergoes constant changes until it blooms, wilts and returns to the earth that birthed it. Change is not an option, it is an inevitable element of life.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “We change, whether we like it or not”. Yet as those who are averse to change would hasten to point out, all change is not growth, just as all movement is not forward.  If change is to bear meaning and not be undertaken simply for its own sake, there must be an element of choice involved. For as the old adage states, life is change but growth is optional; it is essential to choose wisely. Even the conservative Winston Churchill wrote that “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction”. What then is involved in finding the right direction? I would suggest that first and foremost there needs to be a sense of going TOWARDS a goal which is in full alignment with one’s values. This is what allows us to stop clinging to the familiar old patterns and to embrace change with courage. In the words of the Dalai Lama, “Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.”  What a beautiful image! A life lived with the goal of ongoing learning and personal growth entails feeling the fear of the unknown and acting anyway, trusting the inner knowledge that to live is to grow is to change … With this understanding, a radical reframing of the notion of change can emerge, allowing each and every one of us to become the change we want to see in this world. 5 WAYS TO EMBRACE CHANGE 1) Live in the present moment. After all, can you really be alive in any other place or moment? Don’t wait until tomorrow to get out of the busy mind which keeps you captive in the past or worrying about the future. Be here now – one breath at a time. 2) Seek out new perspectives. Zen practitioners cultivate the “don’t know” mind, the “beginner's mind - they let go of assumptions of their own knowledge and wisdom, and in that way see the world afresh. This is a great way to approach change―as if seeing something for the very first time, and considering all possibilities.  Be curious, observe all around you and ask questions of anyone who is doing anything you might be interested in trying. Listen seriously to other points of view which you might once have dismissed. 3) Hang out with positive people. It’s a known fact - we become like the people we spend the most time with. In choosing to surround yourself with positive people, you can limit the energy drain that comes from having to tolerate negativity. 4) Ask yourself, "What would I do if I had no fear?" Fear can hold you back from moving forward in your life. Allow yourself to visualize your powerful, courageous self in action and tweak the details to get clarity and precision. Then take action to cure fear, going forward one step at a time as you watch your life unfold in new and exciting ways. 5) Celebrate letting go. Whether it be of an old thought pattern or a well-loved but worn-out piece of clothing, letting go is something to be celebrated. Making room is essential in order to have space for new elements to enter and grow in.  It is a healthy way to invite change into your life, allowing the clinging to the past to dissolve and thereby enabling the creation of new realities with small but steady steps.   QUOTABLE QUOTES “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” - Henri Bergson “Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. ” - Shunryu Suzuki  “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” - Alan Cohen   “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” - Anatole France “It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.” - Marilyn Ferguson   “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” -  Anaïs Nin  “When you're finished changing, you're finished.” - Benjamin Franklin “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” - Alfred North Whitehead “The moment of change is the only poem.” - Adrienne Rich   “I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.”   - John Cage    “Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging. The same road goes both up and down. The beginning of a circle is also its end. Not I, but the world says it: all is one. And yet everything comes in season.” - Heraclitus “Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” J - Robert C. Gallagher ******************************************************************* Please help pass the word around and feel free to send this newsletter, or part of it, to anyone you like. Simply add this:   "Reproduced from Valerie Legge’s “Compose Your Life” coaching newsletter. To subscribe or find out more about Valerie's personal life coaching, visit http://www.ComposeYourLife.ca”.