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Any situation that causes dissatisfaction will take change if you desire a different life. That’s obvious or is it? If unhappiness were the only factor involved, then no one would do yo yo dieting or give up smoking again and again. A person would see herself, assess that she's overweight and that would be that. Hmmm…doesn’t usually work like that. So, what is the dynamic that goes on that interfers with us from achieving our goal and creating abundance?

In one word, Change! Resistance and change go hand in hand. Why is that? Could it be that we really are uninformed about what it will take to change? Fortunately, research has uncovered new understandings about the change dynamic.

The research started with Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who stumbled upon the idea that change occurs in stages. She was doing ground breaking work within the context of death and dying when she observed similarities in the responses of her patients after they had received terminal diagnoses. Dr. Kubler-Ross created one of the first Change Models. It had five stages and was linear and somewhat rigid, characteristics she would later be called on.

Understand that no one else had published this kind of research. Once her change model was brought to the attention of her colleagues, improvements were  identified.

However, let’s start out with the five stages Dr. Kubler-Ross identified. They are Denial/Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Meaning/Acceptance. 

Instead of looking at specifics about how those 5 stages worked for her patients, let’s move on to other research and other change models. Significant differences between the old and new change models are new stage names, adding a sixth stage and the concept that the stages are very permeable. The new names are Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance and Termination/Re-entry.

In the context of death and dying, the result is recognized, but if we apply these new stages to another arena of life such as dieting or quitting an addiction, now we have something to work with. In addition, we have an new light on the scope of change.

Using the example of dieting is rather easy for us to grasp. We’ve all seen photos of obese people and possibly asked ourselves the question, “How did they get this way?” The easy answer, and it really isn’t easy, is that the person was in the first stage of denial/pre-contemplation. He is oblivious to his situation. Let me be blunt, he was not willing to see his body realistically and realize a problem exists.

Once the wake up call comes in, he enters the contemplation stage, which means there is acknowledgment. With awareness he can now make a plan. With a plan, action can be taken which ultimately leads to maintenance and finally termination. The last stage has a double name. Not only is it termination, it is also re-entry because at times termination doesn’t last. What if he couldn’t do the maintenance stage? Now he has reentered the process.

There are all kinds of possibilities. Maybe, the first obstacle was getting out of the contemplation stage and making the preparations. Now you’re beginning to see the nuances and how we, the universal we, often are challenged.

The value of this knowledge really is powerful on two fronts. One, we go into change prepared with the information to decide what stage we’re in, if we’re honest, really honest with ourselves. Second, we do not have to berate ourselves if we find ourselves going through the stages a a number of times.

The next time you begin to make a positive change, you will have an advantage! Enjoy the process.

Tags: abundance, attracting abundance, creating abundance, manifesting abundance