Change Takes Time

Today I turned the light on in my home office. It seems like a small thing but the light has been broken for about 6 months. During that time I kept frustratingly switching it on and then thinking, “What am I doing, I know it doesn’t work”. But finally, I stopped switching it on.

Two weeks ago we had the lights fixed; now, it would seem, I had the opposite problem. There I’d be, sat in my dark room with the computer screen illuminating my desk, when I would suddenly remember, “Oh yeah, the lights work”. But today, without thinking, I turned the lights on when I walked in the room …. finally!

I’ve thought about this quite a bit. How many times does this sort of thing play out in our lives? Maybe we think, “damn, I know I should be twisting my foot when I kick”, or “why do I continue to mention my ex when I go on a date?”, or “I told myself that I would not back down when my work colleague asked me to work overtime and I just went and said I’d do it, again”.

What I was reminded of by the incident with the lights in my office was:

1. Change takes time
2. we must take responsibility for change and act
3. but not get down on ourselves when things don’t go to plan.

That last one is so important – it can be such a waste of energy. In Hapkido and ki class we are learning to channel our energy. If we have to deal with all that self-flagellation then we’re only going to have so much energy left to focus on changing the habit.

Master Chang talks of energy going one direction until obstructed, then naturally another way. So, we need to first notice the transgression and then take responsibility to act, just pull it back to where we wanted it to be.
Then finally…. the light goes on!