Changing Requires a Paradigm Shift. No one said it was going to be easy!

This morning I came across this post by A Thousand Shades of Gray discussing the paradigm shift we go through as humans whenever we’re in a process of personal transformation and growth.
Kurt Lewin developed the Change Theory that is today, the epitome of change models. Lewin is also regarded as the founder of Social Psychology and contributed vastly to the field. On the most basic level, Change Theory describes the process of change that occurs in humans, society, organizations, etc., as conscious and in three phases:
(1) Unfreezing Stage: The stage where a person becomes cognizant that change is needed and reflects on ways to change.
(2) Moving to a New Level or Change Stage: This stage is a process of change; changes in thoughts, feelings, behavior, or all three. This stage is   often liberating and the belief sets in that the new way is better than the old way.
(3) Refreezing Stage: This stage involves establishing the change as a new habit or process. It becomes the norm.

Any process where significant changes occur can be emotionally, spiritually, and mentally difficult.  But these paradigm shifts are a part of life. Be patient with yourself during these times and embrace the process with an open heart. A Thousand Shades of Gray provides some advantageous reminders to help you do just that.
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A Thousand Shades of Gray

-"Love is a thousand shades of gray, and we know / There’s not a safe or certain way to go" ~~Tina Dico 

Three Truths and One Wish

Posted by jillsalahub in Awareness, Basic Goodness, Change, Habits,Letting Go, Life Rehab, Love, Three Truths and One Wish

Paradigm: A conceptual model that is used…to understand complex phenomena. A paradigm includes assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that determine how something is understood. New paradigms develop when observations cannot be explained by current assumptions and beliefs, (source).
I am undergoing a paradigm shift. It is difficult, scary, and slow, but necessary. As I “live into” this change, there are some things I am discovering, finding to be true.

Photo from A Thousand Shades of Gray

1. Truth: Paradigm shifts usually don’t happen quickly. At the very least, they probably won’t happen as fast as you’d like. For most of us, it’s not like flipping a light switch. We have to ease into it, take it slow, give it time and space, stop and start, over and over, again and again, take a few do-overs, wait almost to the point of boredom or giving up–because the full shift doesn’t happen all at once.
2. Truth: Your intellectual understanding of the new paradigm will happen before you are able to fully embody it. You know, but find yourself still acting in those old ways. You move through your habitual patterns and ways of being, watching them with a new awareness, but still stuck in them. It’s tempting in this in-between to think it would be easier to go back to ignorance, to wish for that blindness, to see it as a sort of bliss, but there’s nothing there for you anymore. Once you see a new way, a better, more sane way, you can’t unsee it.
3. Truth: “Love is always in the room with you.” You’ve got this. It’s so certain, it’s as if it’s already happened. You don’t need to be afraid of freaking out or falling apart. The things you are afraid of either won’t happen or won’t be nearly as bad as you’d imagined. You can soften, surrender, let go, relax. Allow yourself stillness, silence, solitude, and space. Shine your light, sink into and manifest your truest self, embody supreme confidence.
One wish: If you want to shift your paradigm, may it go quickly and without obstacle. If you are lost in a fog of confusion, about yourself and the world, or in the midst of change, may you awaken to the light of your true nature. May you know your basic goodness, your innate wisdom and compassion and strength. May we all soften and relax and maintain good cheer, no matter where we are on our path.
*READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE  BY JILLSALAHUB HERE: http://thousandshadesofgray.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/three-truths-and-one-wish-20/