As Easy or As Difficult as You Believe It Is

I'm a keen observer. I am always observing those around me. I'm also a bit obsessive about observing myself. The way I react to certain things, what makes me angry or sad and why. I'm a stubborn dragon. I got the Stubborn Dragon Award for many centuries in a row (the undefeated champion and very proud of it, I must add.)

In the past, the dragon's way to do things was the only way possible. Change was something I could not conceive and I didn't take it well. People should change, the world should change, circumstances should change but not me.

By the way, it is not easy to observe oneself. Often, I don't realize I have an attitude problem but until I see someone else with that attitude. Ironically, my bad attitude in another person always bothers me. I learned that if someone does something that bothers me, sometimes it is because the person is showing attributes I don't like of myself. I've  also noticed as one grows old, there is a stronger tendency to reject the new stuff. We refuse to learn and find adaptation more difficult. We want things to be "as they were" because the way they were is always better. That's what my grandmother used to say. Then my mother said it and now I've caught myself repeating it. And I wonder, things were better in the past for real? Or is it just that we have such a hard time accepting change and adapt to it that we NEED to believe past was better?

We need to justify our inherent reluctance to change. At least, I do... or did.

Once I read, "To achieve what you've never had, you must do what you've never done." It was an eye opener for me. The more I refused to change and learn new things, the more I would be stuck in the same place. And the world would keep moving and leaving me behind. My Buddhist group used to say, "if you don't move forward, you start moving backwards". I thought that was not accurate, since you could just stay in the same place. Now I understand it's like a car in a road. As the car goes forward, it seems the light-posts move backwards. I guess that's one of the reasons why often the elders who insist to live from their past memories, feel they don't fit anywhere and get ignored by the younger.

I don't want to be like that. I've promised myself I will be more receptive and open to change. It is very difficult and challenging for one like me, but I often remind myself that it is as easy or as difficult as I believe it to be. I'm the one who sets the limits to my brain and my capacity. I've made a big leap of faith. Faith on myself. I will learn new things, I will learn to adapt, I will be open to change.

To achieve what I've never had, I'll do things that I've never done. One of them is reinventing myself and embracing possibilities. Because past things were not always better (or maybe they were), but the best is still to come, if we allow ourselves to believe so.

Today is the second anniversary of the Dragon Cave. Last year, we threw a huge fancy party for all my regular dragon friends (more than sixty.) My on-line presence this year has been erratic so, as it is natural, the number of visiting friends dropped dramatically. No big party today. What about me setting a fire and you grabbing a bag of marshmallows? We can sit by the fire and watch the dwarves play to the Cave's Got Talent.

Thanks to each and every one of you, who kept visiting the dragon each time there were smoke signals. You are the ones that keep the Cave open, the dwarves employed and the dragon's blogging fire burning. Father Dragon celebrates you. We celebrate your loyal friendship and the gift of your time. Thank you for spending a bit of your life here with me.

Dragon Hugs!