We've all heard about the extremes of change- people who are afraid of change and refuse to change because "it's always been like this," and on the other end, people who like change for the sake of change, and forget that change is not always progress. I think we can also agree that most of us fall somewhere in the middle of this.

Change can be a good or a bad thing, and we certainly all want to change the world for the better. Of course, our opinions will differ on what exactly "better" is, but that's irrelevant for this discussion. Each of us can make a good change happen. If we can't all directly change the world, we can do smaller things. Remember too that small things can end up having huge consequences.

Because we all have different ideas of what is better, it is easy to have conflict. So, let's focus on change that has a much smaller chance of conflict- personal changes. We can all change something about ourselves to become a better person. Because small changes can have big repercussions (think "ripple effect"), any little thing we do can be very positive. These changes can range from the mundane to the spiritual.

While it is not always easy to make a change, even a small one, the first step is simply identifying the thing you want to change, and deciding if you really want to change it and why. If you don't have a good reason and a true desire to make the change, it is much more difficult to do it. For example, when I was younger, I very rarely brushed my teeth (maybe once a month or so- literally), even though my mother had tried to make it a habit for me. Eventually I decided that I wanted to change that, because I didn't want to have to go through painful dental procedures. I truly wasn't concerned with my personal hygiene, I was worried about the pain that might result from me not brushing my teeth. So I decided that I would have to make the change of forming of habit of brushing my teeth every night. I had to keep reminding myself to do it, but it soon became a habit. And of course, not only are my teeth healthier, but having this good habit has helped me with other good habits, even if only through the experience of forming a habit.

Perhaps I want to make another change in my life. Maybe I feel that I'm too judgmental. Well, identifying this is the first step to changing it. Then I have to figure out why I want to change it- maybe because I feel that being less judgmental will help me be more open to other people's opinions. I think that this is a worthy reason, and so I decide that I really want to be less judgmental. Now, this goal might be a little harder to achieve than the goal of brushing my teeth every night, because that can be something I set up so every night at the same time I'll see my toothbrush on the counter and remember to brush my teeth, but being judgmental happens at all different times of the day in different situations, so I can't use the same method. I might just have to make an effort to remember not to be judgmental, and try to catch myself when I'm doing it, and remind myself to change what I'm thinking or saying. Sometimes I might not remember, and that's not an automatic failure, just a snag in the process. Don't expect it to go completely smoothly. It's making the effort that counts.

I would suggest that a good practice is to look at yourself every day and list one thing you don't like, and five things you do. This has two immediate benefits- it reminds you that there's more good than bad in you, so it helps keep you in a positive frame of mind, and it gives you something to work on. Just put in the effort to make some good changes, and it'll have effects far beyond what you foresaw at the time.