Anthony Robbins said: “Change occurs when the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing.” Change is definitely painful. It is much easier to stay stuck. But as someone else once said, “A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out!”

 

Why is change so hard? It’s all to do with the way the mind functions. Your unconscious mind has formed a picture, through past experience, about how the world works. Sometimes this picture is correct. Sometimes it’s not. Here’s an example:

 

Your life experience has handed you several examples of situations in which people you love have abandoned you. Your father walked out on the family. Your beloved grandmother died. Your unconscious mind “learns” that “the people I love always leave me.” It then sets out to prove you “right.” Unconsciously, you might start sabotaging every relationship you form. You set people up to leave you because of your world view.

 

Let’s say you then wake up to the pattern you have created. You want to change it. What happens? The mind makes a huge effort NOT to change. If you take this building block away, who knows what other “truth” might crumble. Your mind will challenge you at every opportunity, and change will be very hard.

 

If it’s hard to change a habit like smoking, it’s even harder to change what we believe. But as Anthony Robbins points out, it’s even more painful NOT to change. The price of not changing is unhappiness. To end with another quotation, one I’ve used many a time before:

 

“Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?”