The Paradox of Change and the Role of Trust

 Why is Change So Hard When Everything is Always Changing?

We began this inquiry with a simple but profound paradox:

1. Everything is always changing.

   • The body is in constant flux—cells regenerating, aging, adjusting.
   • The breath flows in and out, moment to moment.
   • Thoughts and emotions arise and pass, shifting with experience.

2. Yet, intentional change is incredibly difficult.

   • We cling to suffering, habits, and identities, resisting the very nature of impermanence.
   • Organizations and individuals struggle to create lasting change.

It would seem that change should be effortless. And yet, we experience a kind of stubborn inertia, a deep resistance to moving toward the very transformations we seek.

Why?

Trusting the Intelligence of Change

Let’s consider a simple example:

If you cut your arm, your body already knows how to heal. You don’t have to micromanage the process—you don’t need to instruct your white blood cells, organize the clotting factors, or consciously repair the tissue. The body has an innate wisdom that restores balance if left undisturbed.

The same intelligence exists within our minds and hearts.

There is something in us that already knows how to move toward health, growth, and freedom. The problem is, we don’t always trust it.

Instead, we interfere.

• We overthink: trying to strategize our way into change instead of letting it unfold.
• We cling: holding onto old identities, fears, and beliefs that reinforce the status quo.
• We resist: afraid that change will strip us of what feels familiar, even if what’s familiar is suffering.

We get in our own way.

And this is where two words emerge that have rarely entered our practice before:

Faith and Trust.

Faith, Not as Belief, But as Allowing

The words faith and trust often carry connotations of believing without evidence. But in this practice, we do not rely on blind belief. We rely only on direct experience.

So how do these words fit?

• Faith is not about believing something externally imposed. It’s about allowing something internally recognized.
• Trust is not about certainty. It’s about making space for the deeper intelligence already at work within us.

In the same way that the body heals when given the right conditions, the mind and heart also transform when we step aside and allow them to.

This is not passive. It is a radical personal responsibility (RPR) to:

1. Stop interfering with our own healing.
2. Remove the obstacles we put in place.
3. Allow the intelligence within us to do its work (which requires our loving attention).

Change, then, is less about forcing something new and more about letting go of what is blocking the natural process of transformation.

Getting Out of Our Own Way

So, what does it mean to trust the process of change?

It means recognizing that:

• Healing is natural—we don’t have to force it, only create the conditions for it.
• Growth is inevitable—but only if we stop clinging to what no longer serves us.
• Transformation happens not by control, but by allowing.

This doesn’t mean passivity. It means showing up every day, doing the practice, and then letting go of the outcome.

When we stop gripping so tightly, when we stop micromanaging our own healing, change happens not as effort, but as inevitability.

So, the question remains:

Can we trust the intelligence within us enough to step aside and let it work? 

And then it's a question of understanding and practicing the posture and skills of 'trusting', which is the practice. 

This is from one of our daily teachings, a small part of our daily practice.