The Way of Changes…

Change…there are so many quotes, books and songs about this subject, that talking about it can seem to be a cliché.  However, Change is such an integral part of Life, it is beyond the realm of cliché.  Everyone speaks about it, because it affects all.  All people, all plants, all beings, all. Including me.

I have been thinking more about Change recently.  I am learning to ride the waves of changes.  I have had the piece of paper shown in the photo “To grow is to change and to have changed often is to have grown much” for so long I don’t really remember where I got it. It used to be in a little wood frame and I remember it being around in my teen years. It may have even been on my mother’s kitchen wall? At some point, in the midst of my many moves in my twenties, I dumped the frame and kept the paper.  Sometimes I surprise myself about what things I keep for decades.  Why has this particular saying made the cut after so many changes in my life over the last 25 years? I guess it has become my personal mantra, or maybe because I have kept it so long now I feel that to get rid of it would be one change too many.

I have enjoyed learning to savor Change.  I capitalize this word because there is change, and there is Change.  Big Changes change our personality, adjust our path and reveal our authentic selves if we are conscious about the process.  Even seemingly ‘negative’ Changes are great teachers.  We all know this because we have all experienced this kind of Change.  It is one of the human elements that bond us as One.  We all know how it feels to have great Change drop in our laps, as well as unexpected sad/shocking/disappointing Change slam into us.

However, what has been on my mind lately is the slow Change syndrome.  I feel I am ready for some Change/expansion, even, dare I say that I ‘want’ expansive Change, and yet it feels as though I am moving through  molasses.  Some may look at what I do, and say “That is impossible! You have experienced much Change!”, and this is true.  I dance with Change constantly. I go through phases, however, where I contemplate all that I see in my head as possible beneficial Change, and then I look at what I, and others, are seemingly able to manifest in the physical world. It can be frustrating. Sigh.

This physical feeling has come and gone over the years. Lately, it has been reminding me of some dreams I had while growing up.  In these dreams I felt inside myself like I was moving in slow motiiiiiooooonnnn, but looking at the world around me, it looked like events were happening very quickly, in fast motion. It was the strangest feeling. Well, it seems that this feeling is back.

A while ago, while experiencing another slllooowww motiiiiooonnnnn period, my partner told me about something called Latent Heat Vaporization.  It is a bit of a challenge to describe, but basically it is- The input of energy required by a change of state from liquid to vapor at constant temperature (see image).  The root of the word “latent” means “to lie hidden”.  The latent heat of vaporization of steam is 540 calories per gram.  This means that 539 calories per gram is not steam. 100 calories per gram is water. No change occurs with each additional calorie added, until the 540th calorie per gram.  Within this 440 calorie per gram input, it appears that nothing is happening, but that final calorie is called “Phase Change”.  In this Phase Change, all of the energy that apparently did nothing, is focused into a high energy, directed material called ‘Steam’.  Steam is an incredibly  powerful agent of Change.

So, my message to myself and anyone else who wonders where their energy input goes? Don’t give up! Change is in progress.