Yesterday: Our Reliable Reference

When do you know that your life has changed? 

The most reliable and useful measure (or as evaluators say, ‘counterfactual’) most of us have in our own growth journey is - yesterday. What we felt yesterday, knew yesterday, experienced yesterday. And not yesterday as the literal previous 24 hours, but it in the broader sense of the emotionally relevant, consciously alive past. 

The proof of change is when we know - and know that we know - that our today is different from our yesterday. That knowledge is the feedback system for growth - so how we respond to that knowledge is critical. If the change feels like a loss, we typically respond with fear, defensiveness, or avoidance. If the change feels like growth or is otherwise positive, we tend to respond in openness and embrace. Intuitive as those reactions are, I’m starting to realize that the deepest wisdom - and potential for even deeper learning - lies in choosing to respond to either type of change with openness and embrace. Fully accepting what - or where - we are (for better or worse) is at the very least the starting point for our next step...and also helps us make the most of the moment.