What’s Your Commitment to Change?

It may be a cliche, but it’s true.

Whether you want different results or you want the people around you to be different, the same principle applies:

Nothing changes unless you change.

A Time For Change

This is a potent time of year for changes.

First, as we end August and head into September, we encounter a natural “season of change” in the annual cycle. Summer into fall is a time we associate with new beginnings from our childhood — this is the season when the new school year starts.

Second, coinciding with the end of August is the new moon — always a time for a reset and new beginnings.

The new moon in Virgo invites us to assess our systems, structures, and habits, and to change what no longer serves us.

In the Hebrew calendar, this new moon ushers in the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish year. In this month we begin preparing on a soul level for the Jewish New Year, the holiest days of the Jewish calendar.

Its time to start considering the Big Questions of life:

• Why are you here?
• What’s your purpose?
• How are you being called to serve?
• What will you do differently?

It’s not coincidence that summer into fall, Virgo season, and the Jewish New Year fall around the same time.

This is the season of change. It’s my favorite time of year.

The Two Sides of Change

I love change. I love the thrill of new experiences, the mystery of the unknown, the opportunity to be a beginner and learn new things, the enjoyment of exploring with wonder and curiosity.

Of course, like almost everyone, I also enjoy the stability of routine, the grounding of ritual, the comfort of structure. But as much as I sometimes crave structure, I’m just as quick to rebel against it.

Even before I started paying attention to living according to the laws of nature and the moon cycles, I intuitively gravitated to this season as the time for major life changes and implementing new systems and rituals.

Twelve years ago (in August, of course) I left the structure of a legal career for the adventure of being an entrepreneur.

As a real estate broker and coach, I’ve spent the past dozen years helping clients navigate their biggest life transitions — home, career change, family changes. I’ve gotten a front-row seat to how people deal with change.

And I’ve put myself through the change cycle in every possible way. From upending my rituals and habits to evolving my business to selling my home and living home-free, to moving across the country as a nomad, I’ve been living the adage that change is the only constant.

Most people struggle with a slight uprooting of their schedule. They try to avoid change, even as they are going through it.

This is largely because of their relationship with the “dark side” of change: destruction. It’s a “dirty” word that gets a bad rap and triggers a lot of fear. But there’s no way around it.

You won’t get new results by doing the same old things.

If you want things to change in your life, then you must be willing to give up current systems, behaviors, habits, and ways of operating. Sometimes you must release yourself from relationships, your job, your home, your favorite activities.

A Starting Point For Change

As we enter this season of change, the invitation is to consider the structures and systems in your life: your habits, practices, and rituals, your attitudes and beliefs, and your current ways of being and doing.

What may have worked in the past may no longer serve you.

Your commitment to the results you want is measured only by your commitment to making a change, to letting go of what no longer serves you.

‘Tis the season.