Rol wrote -
> We talk a lot on this forum about creating change. In general change is
> viewed as a positive development. However, for most people, creating
> change or obliging them to cope with change, automatically creates
> stress...
>
> If creating stress is bad, does this imply that pushing for change is to
> be avoided?
Stress is not created within a person by external events. It is created by
the person in reaction to external events. Two people experiencing the
same event can have opposite reactions - one will has stress while the
second person has no stress. So it is not the event, but the person.
As our morals have decayed, our strength of character has done likewise.
More and more people are conformists who act as "others" believe they
should act rather than in accordance with some strongly held personal
values, character. So, more and more people experience stress from the
events in their lives. "When the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'"
has been replaced by "I''m only human" and "Oh, poor me!".
Change is something which little children love until they learn from their
parents and society that they should be feeling bad. People in positions
of authority must become far more attuned to helping people to make
decisions not to be stressed not respond as most people do, but to react
in ways which are good for themselves. It is pretty easy to prove that
being stressed is bad for everything and everyone which any person holds
dear. Conversely, it is easy to prove that being relatively free of
excessive anxiety and stress is good. Courage is never the absence of
fear, but the ability to act in spite of it and the same is true of
anxiety and stress. Anxiety, stress and fear are normal signs which tell
us when it is time to take more care and to be especially good at
succeeding. Confidence and courage are what's needed, not being stressed
out.
So change is not bad, but since successful change is what any person in
authority is responsible for achieving, preparing associated people and
ensuring that they will individually adapt in a positive fashion require
much more help today than 50 years ago when people were far stronger and
more independent in the U.S. and had more character.
Regards, Joan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joan Pomo The Finest Tools for Managing People
Simonton Associates Based on the book
jpomo@gate.net "How to Unleash the Power of People"
About the book go to http://pages.prodigy.com/DMHD39A (use caps)
--"jpomo@gate.net" <jpomo@gate.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>