Embracing the Unknown: The ALIGN Framework
Change. It's one of the inevitable constants that all too often, we try to ignore, stuff down, or desperately run away from. No matter how you slice it, change requires...well, change.
And that can mean different, new, unfamiliar, or even UNKNOWN.
Changing once is sometimes hard enough. So what does it mean to change...forever?
It's easy to get caught up in our thoughts, beliefs, or judgments about what we should do, or how our journeys could look. But research has proven that thoughts, beliefs, and judgments are all malleable - fluid and flexible - and able to be shaped by new information, and our interactions with the world (and others). In other words, we are the ones who ultimately decide.
Why is this important? What do our thoughts have to do with changing?
Everything.
As author Elizabeth Benton shares, “When your thoughts reflect the way you want to be, you’ll make a choice that creates the change you desire.” Really developing a sustainable relationship with change requires looking at our core values, knowing how to align our thoughts and choices with our goals, and asking meaningful questions:
What do I believe (and why)?
What drives my decision-making?
What helps me get closer to where I want to go AND who I want to be?
In my recently published book on navigating personal change, Embracing the Unknown, I share a framework of core values that supports our ability to explore, embrace, and ultimately, ALIGN with change.
Over the past six weeks, I've shared an article series on this framework where you can dig into what it means to ALIGN with change. Read the introduction here and click each of the links below to explore the full articles:
Embracing the unknown isn't comfortable, easy, or familiar, and in fact, can lead to things that aren't bullet-pointed on our well-curated lists. But it also means we have the possibility to go to places beyond our wildest imagining.
Pause and take a deep breath. What do you notice?
Take a moment and make one choice about the next step on your journey, and you just might find that you're already on your way.