Last year, I helped a friend reorganise his at home office. On my next visit I noticed everything was back in its original spot. There's comfort in the familiar. And comfort was certainly more important to him than a new, more efficient place for his mail.

We all know other people who are stuck doing the same things the same way expecting a different outcome. Yet we fail to see our own narrow views or the "I know what I know" attitudes we hang on to, never considering the possibility that we may be blind to a better way. (Here I am for instance with depression again...why?)

The world around us is rapidly changing - in fact the only constant is change. Flexibility and adaptability are critical success factors for people and thus organisations. Although openness to new ideas and a sincere desire for positive change are more important than ever, we often stay with the familiar assuming it will eventually produce the desired, or different results, mostly because our subconscious knows it kept us alive until now! (Think of smoking, alcohol or obesity.)

Albert Einstein said it best: "The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

When we resist change we miss opportunities because the discomfort we feel around change, fear, anxiety and worry, can literally limit the brain's ability to see other options. The heart in actual fact sends more messages to the brain than visa versa. It literally shuts down important decision making areas of the brain as our emotions move out of balance - the most obvious being don’t make decisions when we are angry.

If we want to think differently, we need to feel differently first.

As I have previously said EQ before IQ/feelings before thought - we need to be self-aware of our emotional balance first to ensure we can use the best of our IQ.

Next time you find you're resistant to change, make sure you aren't blind to other options. Start by disengaging from any discomfort and find a more neutral attitude: Focus on the area around your heart; breathe in and out through the heart. Then engage the power of the heart by activating a positive feeling. The physiological changes brought about by this emotional shift will facilitate cortical function and can help you view the issue in a whole different light.

And of course as Charles Darwin stated "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

And the most powerful agent of change - is a change of heart (EQ).

Les

A Moodscope member.