One Technique to Turn Bad Into Good
Do you get upset when your phone, computer, or other technology needs an update, and then you have to figure out how to navigate the new version? Recently our small credit union, where I have been a member since I was a child, merged with a larger credit union, and all my banking details changed. One way to look at this merger was through the lens of frustration and more work. Now I have to update all my banking information EVERYWHERE! But I could also choose to see how it offered me opportunities for observing my reactions and developing more patience.
If you are like me, you are not fond of change. But one of the things I love most about yoga is how it offers me a compass to navigate these various life challenges and helps me learn how to better adapt to the one constant in the universe: change.
Remember–it’s not just helping with the tight muscles and achy parts that makes yoga so amazing. In my opinion, the philosophy and the mindset practices offer the very best benefits of the yoga practice.
If you are a regular asana practitioner, but you haven’t dug into the Yoga Sutras, then I recommend that you pick up a copy. I have my yoga teacher training students read Desikachar’s translation, as well as Alberto Villoldo’s translation, but another very popular translation is by Swami Satchidananda.
Yoga sutra 2.33 recommends: When disturbed by negative thoughts, cultivate the opposite mental attitude (Vitarka-badhane pratipaksha-bhavanam). What this sutra is saying is that you can consciously choose how to perceive each situation, and the way you choose to perceive a situation will affect your emotional response.
Modern research also supports this ancient philosophy. Research suggests that viewing change and challenge as a part of life —rather than a hardship—can turn your difficult moments into opportunities for growth.
How you process challenging moments will determine if the experience is “good or bad” for you. In other words, it’s not the number of stressful situations you encounter — it’s how you perceive difficult moments — that determines whether you grow stronger or suffer from the experience.
How to grow from change is a concept explored in great detail in the new book Master of Change by Brad Stulberg.
As Stulberg writes: "Unlike old ways of approaching change, we'd benefit from conceiving of change not as an acute event that happens to you, but rather as a constant of life, a cycle in which you are an ongoing participant.”
The next time you face challenge and change, be it the smaller day-to-day stuff or, the more significant disruptions we all face from time to time, ask yourself how you might cultivate the opposite emotion. Instead of being upset with all the new things you need to learn, recognize that nothing will really ever stay the same, and then make a list of the benefits and growth you receive as things change. Make note of the behaviors that would support you in adapting to change and do what you can to stick with them.
You can either sit and sulk about your misfortune, or you can recognize your negative thoughts and acknowledge that you have a choice in how you respond to any situation and how you can redirect your attitude. We all will face moments of change, disappointment, and failure. But they can be a springboard to something better if you have the right mindset.
