“The only constant in life is change“
– Heraclitus
I was recently talking to someone who was extremely fearful of change and particularly disliked the idea that the future was uncertain. To fear change is to put yourself in an extremely difficult situation and should you choose to hold onto that fear the situation is impossible to resolve.
The quote at the top of this article from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus reminds us that there is no getting away from change. Change is happening all the time. There is no such thing as a fixed motionless unchanging existence. Everything from the world around us – the weather, the plants the trees and the people, are always changing. The things within us – our cells and organs, our thoughts and our sense of self – all of this is changing all the time. Sometimes we may be consciously aware of it, at other times we’re not, but no matter what it’s always changing.
So what can we do? Well, adopting a position of denial and resistance to change just causes tension which results in stress which affects our well-being and which, paradoxically, can bring about change of a very unwelcome kind. Alternatively, I believe the Huna adventurer attitude and approach to life can help us navigate an ever changing world.
Firstly, there is the belief based on the principle of Pono that there is always something you can do. Like the tides, you might just choose to ‘go with the flow’ and see where the change takes you. Or you might choose to adapt to the change without resistance in the way that a tree bends to accommodate strong winds. Or you might choose to influence circumstances so that things change in a way that suits you most (note we are talking about influence rather than control here).
Secondly, you could get curious about what the change will bring about. I have written before about the wonderful quality of curiosity and how it relates perfectly to the Huna adventurer attitude to life. Curiosity and exploration can even be a step towards ‘befriending’ the outcomes of change.
Thirdly, you could adopt an empowering perspective on uncertainty. A powerful aspect of Huna is the ability to shift perspectives to suit ones circumstances and even to take multiple perspectives at one time. This might involve seeing everything as a dream or deconstructing things into a number of objectively separate component parts to suit a particular need.
Many people who fear change claim to crave certainty. They fear what they consider to be its opposite: uncertainty. In this case uncertainty may be considered problematic or even frightening, after all, it could provide a sense of fear of the unknown and being out of control by being unable to control an unknown future. This is a particularly disempowering perspective as it is extremely unlikely that we could ever know everything and we can’t control the future.
But what if we chose to view certainty and its ‘opposite’ through a different lens -through the Huna adventurer lens? What if, instead of seeing uncertainty as the opposite of certainty, we considered the opposite of certainty to be possibility?
How do you feel when you consider the notion of possibility? Personally, when I consider the idea of possibility it is a particularly expansive and positive experience. It is even something I can get excited about as possibility suggests there is potential for a lot of good things to come about, more than I might be able to even conceive of right now.
What if, in the face of uncertainty, you switched to an attitude of possibility? Yes things will change, but what if they change for the better? What about all of the unlimited possibilities there may be to see change in a positive light this way?
So, as we enter a new year, we can guarantee that the only thing we can be certain of is that things will be uncertain! So perhaps it’s time to view things through the Huna adventurer lens of possibility and be ready for all the good surprises that could come your way.
Blessings for 2024!
Pete
P.S. If you want to start of 2024 learning about Huna then you may be interested in our four part Introduction to Huna: A Shamanic Path to Inner Harmony and Power class starting on January 8th.
