We are naturally equipped to change

Discover how to recognize and deal with individual processes of change to achieve comprehensive well-being.

Even before birth, our body has already experienced multiple processes of adaptation to changes to create the physiological conditions necessary to survive a new environment, transcending intrauterine life.

This is how we can say that our system is naturally equipped with resources that allow it to deal with life’s changes and develop adaptive processes that allow it to evolve.

During development, we live experiences that stimulate the creation of new neural connections that make us change. This includes both pleasant experiences that are remembered with joy and that we can tell naturally, as well as threatening ones that are recorded in the middle and lower levels of our limbic system and are inaccessible to our conscious will.

This scenario for change involves at least the following elements: a natural system to adapt, individual resources, common resources and an environment that permanently emits information to our systems, both pleasant and threatening. With this situation, we have the ability to lead our processes of change towards comprehensive well-being.

I share some considerations for dealing with individual processes of change.

1. Change “threatens” the system. Adapting to change involves adopting new ways, skills and behaviors, while abandoning old ones. This can generate internal pressures, pain and resistance, despite this, the system continues to build new connections to adapt to change.
2. We have unused internal and environmental resources. Identify them in a list and reflect on how these resources can enhance your process of change and development.
3. Persevere despite setbacks. Return to the purpose, ask ourselves why change is necessary and if we want to change for our well-being or to meet the expectations of others.
4. Patience. Generating new connections for change is a process. Make a list of the skills and knowledge necessary to address the transition and complete small tasks consistently.

Recognizing our natural capacity to adapt and our system’s resistance to change is essential to developing a healthy transition process. It allows us to reconnect with our strengths, take advantage of the resources of the environment, and develop meaningful learning that transcends the particular experience and provokes states of integral well-being.