Can Trying To Change Interfere With Personal Development?

I took a fruit smoothie to work with me today for the first time in months. It’s been over 24 hours since my last bit of cooked food and for the first time in a long time, I feel as if I can continue with raw food for an indefinite period of time.

Yet as recently as a week ago I felt as if I’d never return to the 80/10/10 raw food diet.

What happened?

To put it simply, I decided to stop trying to change everything at once because it was too much for me to handle. My desire for spiritual change threw me out of balance and was dragging me down in too many other areas. Once I decided to stop changing in this area, accepted where I currently am, and committed to being open to future change, everything else changed in a hurry.

I grew up in a series of churches, starting with a fundamental Baptist church and ending up in independent Bible churches where the focus was on spiritual growth in a biblical context. I’ve gone through Dr. Robert Anthony’s “The Secret Of Deliberate Creation” within the past couple of years and what I learned resonated with me and made sense. It also pushed me a bit farther than what I had learned in the churches, yet I was still able to see that what I learned fit in with what I already believe (for the most part). I was able to take the religious context and apply it to what I learned from Dr. Anthony.

But I wanted to ensure that I was on the absolute best path spiritually. A big part of that, at least for me, was questioning what I already believe. I think it’s healthy to do this — as long as you don’t insist on change simply for the sake of change. But that was my problem; I was too determined to change when I didn’t really need to.

Instead of trying totally change my spiritual context, I recently decided to accept God as I currently know Him and work within that context. Thankfully, the religious context is minimal for me. If I attend a church, it will be because I want to. I’ll be the one to choose whom I want to associate and fellowship with. I’ll choose the organizations and individuals that receive my gifts. In the final analysis, everything I’ve learned about spirituality fits in with what I already believe.

I will continue to question some (but not all) of the things I know about the Bible. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to actively try to go against them; to me, that is the same thing as hatred and is counterproductive. Instead, I’m going to focus on what I know works: prayer, meditation, giving thanks, and associating with other followers of Jesus who think, believe, and live like I do.

And once I got back into my old prayer and meditation routines and stopped worrying about trying to change, things started happening. My focus returned in so many areas and even my desire to eat raw food has returned.

And that’s why I’m sitting in front of a fruit smoothie as I type this (even if blackberries and raspberries are the best combo for a smoothie, at least in my opinion!).

Life is good. God is good. And I hope that you, too, are good.

The lesson I learned (and one that you may want to consider) is that trying to change too much at once may actually prevent you from making any real change in your life. Simply accept what you have and where you are in life, then devote your energy to implementing one thing while being willing to accept change as it presents itself. It’s enabled me to return to an all raw food diet, and now that I can pray about it and give thanks for the benefits I’m already experiencing after only 24 hours of all raw food, I think that the return will be easy. The mindset I had last year has returned! And I want to encourage you to make things easier on yourself. Stop trying to change; instead, focus on growing and see if that moves you closer to your goals.

I welcome your comments and questions on this (or any other) subject. Please let me know how I can make this blog better for you. Thanks!