The other day, I was listening to a podcast where Daniel Rabbi Lapin was being interviewed about his new book, Business Secrets from the Bible, and something he said caught my ear. He talked about how being human is distintly different from being any other animal. Of course, I thought he would talk about our greate intellect, capacity for emotional complexity, our social ability, or even our opposable thumb. Nope.
Instead, what he said was brilliantly different. A cow, crow, sheep, horse or tiger, if they were lucky enough to live that long, in ten years, will still be a cow, crow, sheep, horse or tiger. They will always be the animal they are and not much more. Human beings, on the other hand, have the ability to change. We can move and morph ourselves to be vastly different from what we once were. We’re not who we were ten years ago. We will not be, ten years from now, who we are today. So long as we allow ourselves to let go of our past and not allow ourselves to be stuck by some identity, some circumstance, some situation.
Ultimately, change is a choice. We can always, if we allow ourselves, evolve, change, and grow. Sometimes I get stuck on an image of my past-self, not realizing that I’m not that person anymore. Yes, our past is a part of us, but it alone does not define us. Allow change. Allow growth. No matter what we think we may be, we can change.
Change can be a powerful ally. Change is a choice.
In Between Degrees 