Understanding and dealing with Change

History is not about the status quo; it is about change. Throughout most of the time since civilization began, the agents of change has been the only constant. The Ancient Greek Philosopher, Heraclitus said “You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you." 

Change is an inevitable fact of life. Our natural tendency is to resist change. To many of us change represents stepping out of our comfort zone. It means uncertainty.

Why we resist change:

I believe we resist change because it represents "A THREAT TO OUR SECURITY, SAFETY OR SURVIVAL". The idea of change frightens us. This fear runs under your radar, off your screen of awareness and is never, ever thought about consciously. It is a non voluntary response. This deep fear is connected to our very survival - "If I change, I will die." But where could such a fear arise from?

Some researchers have speculated that the Enteric Brain (Gut Brain), which contains 100 million neurons, and resides in our gut, controlling digestion as part of our nervous system, is where this survival challenge is detected and acted upon. Our ninth cranial nerve, Vegas nerve, connects the Gut brain to our head brain. That explains why we feel queasy in our gut when confronted with change.

Connecting the dots:

The Gut Brain will trigger negative physiological responses to situations that it considers threatening to survival, regardless of the actual threat level. Human body needs homeostasis (stability). It is natural for it to actively oppose change to maintain equilibrium. Change can trigger our brain into remembering painful experiences from the past. Even though this perception is often flawed, our brain can’t distinguish it from real threat. Even worse, this process is usually subconscious.  The only thing you notice concisely is feeling nervous and wanting to leave wherever you are at that moment.

Fear of unknown and resisting change is one of the most primal human traits. In fact we share this trait with all of our pre-human species. Through the prehistoric era this defense mechanism has served all successful species (including humans) wonderfully in survival situations. Unfortunately, it can cause disaster when all we want to do is try a new profession, or move to a new town, or do anything that is out of the current comfort zone that we have constructed for us to feel safe.

This mechanism can specially be challenging in the modern days. The pace of change in our world is speeding up. Aside from usual evolutionary changes we have been experiencing several key revolutionary changes that have impacted our life significantly. This acceleration comes not only from advancing technology, but also from unprecedented world population growth, even faster economic growth. Advances in medicine, personal computers, internet, agriculture, personal communications, travel,

Adapt or parish:

We must adapt and evolve to embrace and keep up with all the changes around us.

Defining intelligence

What is intelligence? According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Intelligence is the "ability to adapt effectively to the environment, either by making a change in oneself or by changing the environment or finding a new one".