3 Options for Change in Any Situation

You have 3 options for change when you face any situation, and it is vital in more serious situations. Your 3 options for change are essential when you are in the common pattern for life change. That pattern has three steps, and it sounds like this:

“I was living this way. Then one day, THIS happened. Now I live my life this way.”

That is the same format of every testimony you hear at church, a 12-step program, or a system that helps people change. The 3 options show up at the "THIS happened." Ultimately, we need to determine what "THIS" is, but let's look at the 3 options for change you have. Working through these 3 options will help us see what "THIS" is.

Three Changed Beliefs

Take a minute to think about your life.

Consider some categories like spiritual, career, social, physical, family, financial, and mental. Think about any one category and then consider what you believe now. Find a current belief that has changed from what it was in the past. Now identify what that former belief was. 

Some examples from my life are:

Required Different Thinking

One thing most likely occurred, if things got better, you adopted different thinking. So, consider this great principle.

If people are changed, they are mainly changed
 because their thinking has changed.

Notice how that statement fits my items above.

My common pattern for the Career item can be stated as follows, “My energy for all I did at work was to get to the next level in an organization. Then one day, I started thinking about how I focused my energy on comparing myself to others. It was also evident that it created less satisfaction with daily work. So, I decided it was better to work to my strengths and do the best job I could. It radically changed my life and relationships.

Your 3 Options for Change

Change can be discussed using three options: get better, stay the same, or get worse. So a “Change Table” would look like this:

What’s evident about the BETTER column? Right, it involves believing TRUTH!

Truth is imperative for a “better” life. When your life changes for the better, truth is involved somewhere. “Better” in this context does not mean you win the lottery. While that can be better for you if you have good thinking about stewardship, it creates a nightmare for most. So, “better" is a life that becomes more closely aligned with great values and timeless truths.

If you look up the definition of truth, you will find something like: “the quality of being true, genuine, actual, or factual; a proven or verified principle or statement; fact.”

And, let me introduce another word to consider – REALITY. Reality is defined as “in actual fact, the quality or state of being real.”

While those definitions are not identical, they show remarkable similarities. When you believe truth, you see what is actual, genuine, and factual. Reality looks at things objectively and factually. Yes, lies are real, but the content of the lie leads to what is not true and factual.

Truth is often difficult to accept, and reality is an acquired taste, but both are better than the alternatives despite any unpleasantness they may create. Why? Because it is what is REAL, not fiction or fantasy!

By the way, the phrase “perception is reality” is inaccurate. Reality does not change because you perceive it differently. The phrase is correct if from the view that people think their perception is reality, but reality doesn’t care about your perception; it is what it is.

Now you need to see how change and reality work together to see what "THIS" is.