1. Embracing Change! How to Keep Your Peace in a Stressful World Venice Gallegos, LPC C-SEAP Specialist for Pueblo Colorado State Employee Assistance Program

2. Our World is Changing Weather Economy Violence Life Roles Manners General Instability

3. “ Strangely enough, this is the past that somebody in the future is longing to go back to.” - Ashleigh Brilliant

4. Natural Reactions to Change DISCOMFORT Expressed as: Fear …worry, anger, judgment… Ego …misperceived identity developed through childhood trial and error…

5. Breathing Your Way Through Change It isn’t the changes that do you in; it is the transitions. Change is external - it is situational. Transition is internal - it is the psychological adjustment/reorientation process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Unless transition occurs, change will remain painful.

6. Predictable Behaviors During Transition Preoccupation with self (#1) Perceived threats to safety and security Career crisis linked to self-esteem Hidden agenda, power struggles and jockeying for prestige and position (self-preservation) Covert and overt resistance to change Divided loyalties Decline in productivity and team work Decline in morale, commitment and trust Behavior changes: withdrawal, irritability, etc.

7. Transitions The ability to transition depends on letting go of the old reality. The starting point for transition is not in imagining the outcome, but in experiencing the world you are in today honestly, not from fear. Nothing undermines internal change more than the failure to see the world the way it really is today.

8. Stages of Individual Change Endings Beginnings Transition “Now do I have to start all over?” “Before this, I had a real job” “I’m getting out of here” “They’ll be sorry” “I don’t care” “This is Bad” “It won’t affect me” “it won’t work” “I told you so” “Just keep your head down” “They didn’t consult me” “I’ll only do the minimum” 1. “What do I fear losing?” 2. “Is it really, really, really true?” 3. “What do I want from the change?” 4. “What are my first steps?”

9. Transition Management It isn’t the change itself that people resist, it is the endings and losses they have to face. It isn’t helpful to talk about the healthy outcome of the changes until the losses are accepted. The failure to identify and be ready for the endings and losses that change produces is the largest single problem that organizations in transition encounter.

11. First Things First - How to Practice “In The Reality of Right Now” Thinking Stop, Breathe, Listen It’s Already All Okay Gratitude Can Be A First Line of Defense Finding The Healthy Humor in the Reality Embracing and Accepting

12. Practices for Joy & Inner Peace Come into your own awareness Learn to live without absolutes and polarized beliefs Make personal growth a conscious priority Ritualize gratitude & contentment Live without resentments Maintain personal and professional boundaries

13. More Practices… Keep expectations of ourselves, others and situations in check Serenity prayer: Serenity to accept, the courage to change what we can, wisdom Stephen Covey: Circle of Influence and control. “It is what it is” Let others be who they are Accepting ourselves at the core

14. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

15. Recommended Reading Managing Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes – by William Bridges Who Moved My Cheese? - by Spencer Johnson, MD The Challenge of Change in Organizations: Helping Employees Thrive in the New Frontier - by Nancy Barger & Linda Kirby The Employee Handbook for Organizational Change - by Price Pritchett & Ron Howard Life is an Attitude, Staying Positive During Tough Times, How to Control Your Outlook on Life - Elwood N. Chapman Loving What Is -Byron Katie Buddhist Boot camp -Timber Hawkeye