Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch- changes (Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes— Don’t have to be a richer man…

Those lovely lyrics from the late David Bowie still send chills up my spine. Especially “turn and face the strange” and “turn and face the strain.” Because when I reflect about change — lasting change — I see how strange it can be for folks. And how much strain it can bring.

When it comes right down to it, lasting change seems to be what people are longing for — what they truly want the most.

As a naturopathic doctor, I know this for a fact. Patients don’t come to me just because they want to take something natural over something synthetic, they come because they want something to change.

The question is: Why do they have such a hard time making it happen?

I recently read an article by a colleague of mine that made me think. It said,
“The human brain is biased neurochemically toward negativity. This artifact of negative thinking likely carried over from our ancestors who had to constantly be aware of threats to their survival.

"Research shows that the brain reacts strongly to negative stimuli, and shows little response to positive stimuli that pose no threat to our survival. Rumination on negative belief patterns can lead to hopelessness and the pitfalls of a ‘fixed’ mindset. With a fixed mindset, patients may uphold and defend the belief that they cannot make meaningful positive change or heal, so their outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

For someone like me, with an active practice, this was good information to know. Because in order to help facilitate lasting change, we are going to need to reframe some things and work to remind ourselves that we are indeed not in danger any longer.

With a slight shift in our perception and a new view, we can go from the biased that we are only surviving in this world to a profound place of thriving.