It’s easy to forget that change usually doesn’t happen all at once.
The flowers don’t die because it’s fall. Today is November 2 and we are six weeks into fall but the pink cosmos don’t know that. They don’t care that the leaves litter the lawn. They only ‘know’ that the conditions have remained suitable to their existence until now. And as long as those conditions exist, they will remain in bloom. But that doesn’t make it summer. One day, not too long from now, the change that has been coming, evidenced by shorter days, cooler nights and that growing pile of leaves, will have its say. One good cold snap will put a punctuation mark on the what’s been becoming. The flowers will die off, exhausting their annual potential.
That cold snap is not the full story of the change. It is a dramatic final scene without which the play would not be complete, but it cannot stand alone as a story in its own right.
And what ‘evidence’ do we cling to that change is just a rumor, a fabrication not to be believed? And what dramatic moment are we waiting for to tell us what to think and how to feel rather than working with what’s been taking shape all along?
Every system shows its place in the cycle of change. Our understanding is determined by how much we are willing to see.
DAVID BERRY is the author of “A More Daring Life: Finding Voice at the Crossroads of Change” and the founder of RULE13 Learning. He speaks and writes about the complexity of leading in a changing world. Connect with him on Twitter at @berrydavid.
