A fascinating word that we are inclined to misinterpret in today’s society. Of course there are many meanings to the word. In this article I am not making reference to having loose coins lying around, or to replace clothing.
What does CHANGE really mean? Oxford and Webster’s dictionaries are consistent in describing change as a “switch” to something different, a transformation or a transfer to something else. Is change necessary, can it be slowed down or event stopped? Fair questions that I’m sure everyone asks himself or herself frequently.
My lifetime experience indicates that change is indeed necessary and unavoidable. Why? For starters, our psychological make-up which involves reasoning and deductive thinking processes which are mixed with our emotions and feelings. I believe that our emotions are the driving force that stimulate our reasoning and cognitive potential. Most of the time this interaction is quite positive and propels humans towards great achievements, which during the course of history has recorded an almost incalculable amount of improvements in our species’ relatively short history. Unfortunately, the reasoning and emotions mix sometimes creates bad cocktails that generate into greed, strife, conflicts, battles, catastrophes and even war. Change undoubtedly creates stress which is a major psychological barrier and even generates physical health problem in today’s fast pace and ever changing industrial society. Conversely, people also resist change to our current habits and practices. We are a mix bag of aspirations, feelings, emotions, reasoning and cognitive processes. Not to mention our own mood swings such as: I like this today and may not like it tomorrow, hours or even minutes from now. We are likely to change opinions or tastes on a spur of the moment, even over longstanding beliefs.
Advanced extraterrestrials visiting our planet will quickly realize that we humans are a strange bunch and they may not want to socialize with us, or perhaps we may not be ready for them yet. This is something to think about when comparing our species to highly superior beings. Of course this may be due to the fact that our species is relatively new in its development stage compared to other earthly species that have been in existence for tens or even hundreds of million years. Let’s not forget also that we may have progressed quite fast in different streams of endeavour in a relatively short time span which undoubtedly affects our psyche.
Now back to today’s reality, I believe that an important factor, if not the most important stimulus to change is competition. Some of the attributes of competition are: new, better, bigger, faster, cheaper, innovative, greed, jealousy, smarter, more attractive, tantalizing, and the list goes on and on. What differentiates Homo sapiens from other animal species, one would ask? I believe that genetically speaking we will evolve physically over a long period of time, just as other animal species do. However, I believe the major difference is our psyche whereby changes occur at a much faster pace than the evolution of other animal species. Again, I believe that our brain composition of multi billions of neurons and about thousand connecting synapses to each neuron, our cognitive and reasoning abilities mixed with our emotional stimulus serve to propel us with great speed towards constant renewals, hence a major difference with other animals that retain more instinctive processes and less modifications over long periods of time.
What satisfaction do we obtain from change? If we personally generate changes and are successful in achieving our desired results, we are then happy and delighted with ourselves, while others may criticize the effects of such changes since it may not appeal to them or will require changes in their habitual or repetitive processes, while not benefiting them in return (i.e. what’s in it for me?). However, if the changes serve to benefit everyone, or at least the majority, then general appreciation is usually manifested, with minor negativity displayed. Human nature is that we are quick to criticize but refrain from giving praise or appreciation when it’s due.
As I mentioned earlier, I do believe that change is necessary in the interest of generating progress for mankind on the social, scientific, technological and economic streams of life. Such progressive changes should also be designed to benefit our animal friends as well. The most significant negative aspect of change as I see it is “change for the sake of change”. How does this happen? Well, in our cultural, social world and industrial work environment everyone tries to justify their own existence, purpose and value. It’s all part of our basic survival instinct and, of course, our own ego.
Too often changes are made needlessly or without consideration to the connected processes that are already in place, and without consideration that people involved in the operational treadmill are just beginning to get familiar, knowledgeable and comfortable with past changes. In the rush, new changes are often not communicated effectively, and are not fully or only partially properly developed and compatible with the processes that will remain in place; thereby creating more conflicts and requiring quick subsequent remedial actions. All these changes and the negativity they generate also serve to create unjustified stress, alienate people and poor cooperation from the people involved.
What’s the solution? Or what needs to be done to restore proper balance, stability and better psychological health for everyone involved, while maintaining a normal evolutionary progression? Before pursuing, let’s try and obtain a clear understanding of what change is. As indicated at the beginning of the article change is defined as a “switch” to something else. In today’s general thinking process change is usually interpreted as “improvement” of some kind, yet, most of the time we simply obtain something else that may not include any worthwhile improvement over what we had before. We then have to spend time, effort and energy to learn, buy and adapt to the newly introduced process, product or way of doing things, and the list goes on. Is the switchover really worthwhile, or provides true value with significant improvement to the “majority” of people it was meant to apply to? Too often changes are simply cosmetic and not worthwhile or worth the effort or expense, and changes are even regressive sometimes.
It seems that many changes in today’s increasingly fast-pace society are simply “switchovers” which require quick adaptation by many, yet do not provide the qualitative and quantitative improvements and values in all aspects of our lives. Why is this? Well, in my opinion, the domino effect. In today’s society everyone has to justify their existence or worth as I previously indicated, mostly at work, and of course, in our social environment. Everyone wants and feels compelled to demonstrate they have something to contribute (keep your job), status symbol, so as not to be left out of the treadmill and social momentum (rat race also). It seems that change is the new buzz style or raison d’être that society cannot do without. Of course there are changes that do comprise worthwhile improvements and some benefits to mankind. Yet, it becomes questionable whether these changes do provide sufficient improvement to offset the effort, energy, time, learning process, costs and other human factors involved to adapt to these new improvements. These are weight factors that most of the times are not considered on both sides of the “equations”. Yes, equations are indeed overriding and undeniable constant factors that we must all deal with in our daily lives, both for now and for the long-term future.
People also change, but does it really mean “improvement” or “betterment”, or is it simply a cosmetic “switchover”? This is an issue people are always confronted with, especially in relationships. How do we assess or measure the effects of the reported transition? Each situation is different and needs to be analyzed separately in my opinion since there are so many variables and factors involved. Psychologists, marriage and personality counselors often work with such behavioral issues.
Why and when have all these changes begun to occur? The Industrial Revolution began in Europe, mostly in Great Britain, in the 18th century. Since then the pace of change has been steadily accelerating, but the pace really began to quicken in the 20th century, particularly in the 2nd half due largely to computer automation. Nevertheless, I believe the major thrust or momentum for the phenomenal number changes began with people. Social structure modified whereby people began to live closer and closer together, with increased concentration in urban areas, while communications improved dramatically to the extent that people today have the capability to remain in contact at all times even while physically apart. In summary, I believe that technological changes and improvements have been a bi-product and facilitator for the social changes and not vice versa.
We are all immersed in the constant storm of changes around us with no end in sight to the steadily increasing trend, and the question remains how to be satisfied and happy with ourselves, along with our past accomplishments, whether large or small, and more important than anything else, how to terminate this life with a sense of satisfaction, while leaving some worthwhile values for future generations? Everyone has different views and aspirations in life of course, but I truly believe that true happiness is a mindset. Material possessions, latest gadgetry, keeping up with new standards and everyone else should be secondary. Above everything else I do believe we should discover happiness within ourselves, in our own mind, heart and soul. I firmly believe this is true mature way to a successful life. As the song from Bobby McFerrin goes “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and I wish the same for everyone. Be self-satisfied and love yourself first, then be in a position to love others in return.
What does CHANGE really mean? Oxford and Webster’s dictionaries are consistent in describing change as a “switch” to something different, a transformation or a transfer to something else. Is change necessary, can it be slowed down or event stopped? Fair questions that I’m sure everyone asks himself or herself frequently.
My lifetime experience indicates that change is indeed necessary and unavoidable. Why? For starters, our psychological make-up which involves reasoning and deductive thinking processes which are mixed with our emotions and feelings. I believe that our emotions are the driving force that stimulate our reasoning and cognitive potential. Most of the time this interaction is quite positive and propels humans towards great achievements, which during the course of history has recorded an almost incalculable amount of improvements in our species’ relatively short history. Unfortunately, the reasoning and emotions mix sometimes creates bad cocktails that generate into greed, strife, conflicts, battles, catastrophes and even war. Change undoubtedly creates stress which is a major psychological barrier and even generates physical health problem in today’s fast pace and ever changing industrial society. Conversely, people also resist change to our current habits and practices. We are a mix bag of aspirations, feelings, emotions, reasoning and cognitive processes. Not to mention our own mood swings such as: I like this today and may not like it tomorrow, hours or even minutes from now. We are likely to change opinions or tastes on a spur of the moment, even over longstanding beliefs.
Advanced extraterrestrials visiting our planet will quickly realize that we humans are a strange bunch and they may not want to socialize with us, or perhaps we may not be ready for them yet. This is something to think about when comparing our species to highly superior beings. Of course this may be due to the fact that our species is relatively new in its development stage compared to other earthly species that have been in existence for tens or even hundreds of million years. Let’s not forget also that we may have progressed quite fast in different streams of endeavour in a relatively short time span which undoubtedly affects our psyche.
Now back to today’s reality, I believe that an important factor, if not the most important stimulus to change is competition. Some of the attributes of competition are: new, better, bigger, faster, cheaper, innovative, greed, jealousy, smarter, more attractive, tantalizing, and the list goes on and on. What differentiates Homo sapiens from other animal species, one would ask? I believe that genetically speaking we will evolve physically over a long period of time, just as other animal species do. However, I believe the major difference is our psyche whereby changes occur at a much faster pace than the evolution of other animal species. Again, I believe that our brain composition of multi billions of neurons and about thousand connecting synapses to each neuron, our cognitive and reasoning abilities mixed with our emotional stimulus serve to propel us with great speed towards constant renewals, hence a major difference with other animals that retain more instinctive processes and less modifications over long periods of time.
What satisfaction do we obtain from change? If we personally generate changes and are successful in achieving our desired results, we are then happy and delighted with ourselves, while others may criticize the effects of such changes since it may not appeal to them or will require changes in their habitual or repetitive processes, while not benefiting them in return (i.e. what’s in it for me?). However, if the changes serve to benefit everyone, or at least the majority, then general appreciation is usually manifested, with minor negativity displayed. Human nature is that we are quick to criticize but refrain from giving praise or appreciation when it’s due.
As I mentioned earlier, I do believe that change is necessary in the interest of generating progress for mankind on the social, scientific, technological and economic streams of life. Such progressive changes should also be designed to benefit our animal friends as well. The most significant negative aspect of change as I see it is “change for the sake of change”. How does this happen? Well, in our cultural, social world and industrial work environment everyone tries to justify their own existence, purpose and value. It’s all part of our basic survival instinct and, of course, our own ego.
Too often changes are made needlessly or without consideration to the connected processes that are already in place, and without consideration that people involved in the operational treadmill are just beginning to get familiar, knowledgeable and comfortable with past changes. In the rush, new changes are often not communicated effectively, and are not fully or only partially properly developed and compatible with the processes that will remain in place; thereby creating more conflicts and requiring quick subsequent remedial actions. All these changes and the negativity they generate also serve to create unjustified stress, alienate people and poor cooperation from the people involved.
What’s the solution? Or what needs to be done to restore proper balance, stability and better psychological health for everyone involved, while maintaining a normal evolutionary progression? Before pursuing, let’s try and obtain a clear understanding of what change is. As indicated at the beginning of the article change is defined as a “switch” to something else. In today’s general thinking process change is usually interpreted as “improvement” of some kind, yet, most of the time we simply obtain something else that may not include any worthwhile improvement over what we had before. We then have to spend time, effort and energy to learn, buy and adapt to the newly introduced process, product or way of doing things, and the list goes on. Is the switchover really worthwhile, or provides true value with significant improvement to the “majority” of people it was meant to apply to? Too often changes are simply cosmetic and not worthwhile or worth the effort or expense, and changes are even regressive sometimes.
It seems that many changes in today’s increasingly fast-pace society are simply “switchovers” which require quick adaptation by many, yet do not provide the qualitative and quantitative improvements and values in all aspects of our lives. Why is this? Well, in my opinion, the domino effect. In today’s society everyone has to justify their existence or worth as I previously indicated, mostly at work, and of course, in our social environment. Everyone wants and feels compelled to demonstrate they have something to contribute (keep your job), status symbol, so as not to be left out of the treadmill and social momentum (rat race also). It seems that change is the new buzz style or raison d’être that society cannot do without. Of course there are changes that do comprise worthwhile improvements and some benefits to mankind. Yet, it becomes questionable whether these changes do provide sufficient improvement to offset the effort, energy, time, learning process, costs and other human factors involved to adapt to these new improvements. These are weight factors that most of the times are not considered on both sides of the “equations”. Yes, equations are indeed overriding and undeniable constant factors that we must all deal with in our daily lives, both for now and for the long-term future.
People also change, but does it really mean “improvement” or “betterment”, or is it simply a cosmetic “switchover”? This is an issue people are always confronted with, especially in relationships. How do we assess or measure the effects of the reported transition? Each situation is different and needs to be analyzed separately in my opinion since there are so many variables and factors involved. Psychologists, marriage and personality counselors often work with such behavioral issues.
Why and when have all these changes begun to occur? The Industrial Revolution began in Europe, mostly in Great Britain, in the 18th century. Since then the pace of change has been steadily accelerating, but the pace really began to quicken in the 20th century, particularly in the 2nd half due largely to computer automation. Nevertheless, I believe the major thrust or momentum for the phenomenal number changes began with people. Social structure modified whereby people began to live closer and closer together, with increased concentration in urban areas, while communications improved dramatically to the extent that people today have the capability to remain in contact at all times even while physically apart. In summary, I believe that technological changes and improvements have been a bi-product and facilitator for the social changes and not vice versa.
We are all immersed in the constant storm of changes around us with no end in sight to the steadily increasing trend, and the question remains how to be satisfied and happy with ourselves, along with our past accomplishments, whether large or small, and more important than anything else, how to terminate this life with a sense of satisfaction, while leaving some worthwhile values for future generations? Everyone has different views and aspirations in life of course, but I truly believe that true happiness is a mindset. Material possessions, latest gadgetry, keeping up with new standards and everyone else should be secondary. Above everything else I do believe we should discover happiness within ourselves, in our own mind, heart and soul. I firmly believe this is true mature way to a successful life. As the song from Bobby McFerrin goes “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and I wish the same for everyone. Be self-satisfied and love yourself first, then be in a position to love others in return.