It’s a brave move to say yes to change. I remember, some years ago, many of my friends were extolling the power of Louise Hay’s affirmations, whether they were written on post-it notes stuck around the house or spoken in personal statements to oneself in the mirror. I did not give it much credibility until one day, as an experiment, and at a time where I was not feeling entirely happy with my life, I thought I would give it a go. It was hilarious. I looked at myself in the mirror, engaged my eyes and, fairly loudly, pronounced ‘I am willing to change’. It started well but my mind immediately stepped in as the implications settled and I started to add so many caveats! ‘Well, not entirely change, just some bits’, ‘well maybe not actually really change anything just clip a few bits out that aren’t pleasing me’ and so on. It was eye opening. And I have learned since that it is the role of our left, logical brain to keep us safe, in the tried and tested familiar that got us to survive to this point. It does not like change.

If you are reading this then you are alive, you are probably not hungry, or cold, or homeless, and as far as our left brain goes, it thinks it is doing ok. Why would it jeopardise its success to date by changing? It’s common to fear change in our lives; one of my favourite puns is sometimes displayed on the tip jar in cafes which cleverly taps into this. ‘Fear change? We can help. Give it to us.’

I can’t remember if my life changed for the better after my mirror exercise, it did change eventually. But the first and possibly the most important step was to address a willingness to change. It is probably the most important part of the process. Sometimes I wonder if it is enough? And once we open that door, we enable chance to enter.

I have had numerous clients who have been thoroughly enthusiastic about the ability of the logo work to create something new in their lives; they embraced the concept, and were excited to begin, but did not continue. The change happened anyway. They had said yes. One was trying to sell her apartment in the city centre. No one was coming to view it, despite it being in a popular area, and offered at a very fair price. We started exploring symbols, words and colours to begin creating an intentional logo. She got a symbol, a particular bird, and we planned to meet and continue with the rest of the elements and design. About a week later I heard from her; the apartment had sold. She had been envisioning this bird everywhere. It was enough. Another potential client sparked from a chance meeting on a train; she understood the power of the work and insisted I meet with her son who was at a critical point in his life. He was planning to leave a successful career to start his own business. His mother was intuitive and persistent and arranged for us to get together. After a good chat he agreed to work together until I had a call saying that he felt really clear that he needed to stay where he was. The mother was delighted at the outcome, maybe mothers really do know best. A third connection was established at a chance meeting during a conference. This man’s life was in a complete muddle. It needed focus and a strategy to reveal what really mattered to achieving success. One of the main criteria was earning money. As I was about to present my analysis, he said he had no time to proceed right now as an enormous and profitable project had landed on his lap.

I have felt that the universe is a fluid place, and it is not only logic that gets us from A to B. If we can open to the possibility of negotiating with this fluidity, we can enable the change we want without the struggle, the often lonely and stressful alternative path of ‘making it happen’.

What do we want to say yes to and are we willing to change?

If you want to learn how logos can help as an intermediary between our logic and creative minds, our desires and the flow of the energy that forms us and connects us all, see my Future Magnets course here: : https://bit.ly/4enPTPQ