The continuum from Willful to Willing

When it comes to change, there are two possible reactions.

Are you willing to move forward and go with the flow? Or are you stubbornly refusing to accept change and being resistent and willful?
It's not easy to flow with change. Even though we may have been complaining for a long time, say about a job, we don't like it when the supervisor decides to downsize or change the requirements of the job without consulting us first. But by being willful we gain nothing. We are seen as old dogs.
People who are willing to change seem to go further.

Sometimes we don't want to leave familiar things behind. We believe the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know. But if we don't change, how will we know which is really better?

Change may be difficult, but change IS good. We must change or stagnate. Change definitely is better.

Reckless Youth vs. Venerable Wisdom

Settle down. From Father and Son by the former Cat Stevens, Yusef Ibrahim. I know I have to go. These are the 2 voices in my head. The father, who says wait, slow down. There’s no hurry. It’s not time to make a change and the other voice, much stronger, From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen!

There’s a way and I know that I have to go, away. I know, I have to go.

Yet it is a very sad song. I know I have to go. It’s a compulsion. A need. It’s inevitable and something is going to happen even if I resist. I have to change. I have to move forward. Life goes on. There is only one direction. We have to grow up, even if we don’t want to.

I can’t go back now. If I retreat, I’ll regret it. Yet moving forward is filled with grief and remorse for what I leave behind. I leave behind my youth. I leave behind ignorance.

It’s like going away to college. You want to go! You are so excited about the experiences ahead! And so sad about leaving home. You know it will never be the same again. You will go home of course, but it will never be the same, you will never be the same. Like getting married. Or having a child. Or starting a new job. You never know how things will turn out.