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While I am not sure that resolutions create much positive change in us in a new year, I am certain that our attitude toward change makes a world of difference in any year. When we make a change that improves the quality of our life and we begin to enjoy the fruits of it, we sit and wonder why we didn’t make that change sooner. Changing into a non-smoker keeps paying off so dramatically that we thrash ourselves for not quitting sooner. First, we quit wheezing. Then we actually start smelling and tasting oxygen. Then we start tasting our food. Then one day we realize it has been a long time since we worried about lung cancer. The change was not easy but the rewards are delicious and keep coming the rest of our lives. Most of our changes are like that. Like deciding to get to appointments on time. Norman Vincent Peale helped me to make that change. He said one easy way to practice the Golden Rule is to be on time. It shows respect for the other person and appreciation that they made time to be with you. When I am late now it is always due to something beyond my control. The fruits of that change are sweet, too. People now smile when they arrive early and you walk in. When you call them for another appointment, they don’t start making excuses like they did when you were habitually late. So why do we resist change? I suppose it’s because we’re not as far beyond the animal stage as we like to think we are. Animals live by habit. In our more primitive stages, we were surely that way. It was only when we learned the great benefits of creativity and discovery that Homo Erectus began to change that habitual behavior. The simple truth is that old habits are not easy to break. A habit starts off like a spider web and each time it is repeated it gets stronger until it is like a log chain. In one of my songs titled “Mister Caterpillar”* I likened our attitude toward change to that of a caterpillar. It goes: As Mister Caterpillar moseyed down the roadHe stopped and had a chat with Mister Toad. By and by a butterfly came flitting overhead The caterpillar pointed up and said, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things. They’re pretty as can be but check those wings. They’re thin as onionskin, oh it just makes me cringe! You’ll never get me up in one of those things. I’m gonna keep my fifty feet here on the ground.They may be slow but they get me around. I’ve always been afraid of heights and I’ll add one more thing: It looks too much like work to flap those wings. If God had meant for us to fly we’d be born with wings And if that thing should crash your goose is cooked. I’m much to old to try to change, no flying’s not for me. I’m doing quite well crawling can’t you see. No, you’ll never get me up in one of those things. The caterpillar really has no choice about changing -- it’s built into his DNA. Neither do you and I have a choice. The seasons of life force change on us. The inexorable forces of Father Time and Mother Nature dictate change. So does the sociology of the times we live in and the crash of external circumstances upon our world. The one thing we have control over is to cultivate an open, willing attitude toward change and to influence it toward our good and the good of all the people we love. The most powerful and beautiful thing anyone can ever say to you is that until the day you die, you are the manager of the changes in your life. Like the caterpillar, you can climb on up into your wings. *Happy Doghouse Music/BMI
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