PLAN YOUR OWN CHANGE

By Roland Watson

In previous articles, I have been considering social change. I now want to return to the individual level. I want to help you learn what you need to know, and do, to achieve any large changes that you would like to make in your life.

I'm going to talk about how you can understand your situation better, and also the different issues that are involved in triggering chaos to change it. Specifically, to accomplish a global change, with as little hardship as possible, and hopefully no violence, you need to understand:

- The global system that is involved.
- The nature of its equilibrium.
- How chaos can be triggered.
- And, the prospects for your success.

As an aside, you can use this analysis template to plan a change for any type of social system.

The global system

The first thing that you need to do is define the global system. What are the boundaries and general characteristics of the system to which you are subject? In other words, what system requires global system change? For instance, are we talking about a relationship, or at work, or a health issue, or something else?

Next, is there a larger system of which the dictatorial system forms a part, for which the defeat of the dictatorship is dependent on change in it?

As an example of what I am talking about here, from the political world, the Southeast Asian country East Timor was formerly a dictatorship, under the control of Indonesia. The people of East Timor created a resistance movement, and fought against the Indonesians for decades, but they were unable to achieve their freedom. East Timor - it is now called Timor Leste - was only liberated after the dictator of Indonesia, Suharto, was himself deposed.

Returning to your personal situation, is there a larger system that is directly involved in holding you back?

Finally, are there any other global systems that influence the people who control you, which through their actions increase or reduce the strength of this control?

Again, from politics, the fact that international corporations struck deals with the dictators in China, to produce their goods in the country, greatly enriched the dictators, thereby making them much stronger, and harder for the people of China to bring down.

Returning to your personal life, is there anyone else, such as your family and friends, who are somehow influencing a situation that you want to change? And, are they helping you or not?

The equilibrium

The second subject that you need to consider is the equilibrium of the global system by which you are being controlled. How strong and stable is it? What are you really up against?

Also, what specific forces or power structures maintain the equilibrium and give the system its strength, both within the dictatorial system itself, and also within other global systems that somehow support it? What attributes, policies, practices and conditions contribute to its stability?

The range of personal change situations is really broad. For your own, you need to consider how strongly you are being controlled, through what means, and if anyone else is involved in the process - is supporting your personal dictator.

The change

With this analysis completed, you should have a good understanding of what you are up against. You are ready to think about the change.

In the first article in this series, where I discussed the theory, I said that energy needed to be added to a global system to trigger the phase transition. In your personal situation, what ways - non-violent ways - can you use to add energy?

Next, how much energy do you need to add, to break the system of control? How much chaos do you require?

A further question is, does all of the energy have to come from you? In other words, do you have any allies in this fight who can help you, who can add energy to the system as well?

Also, we saw that real change begins at the tipping point, when the phase transition is initiated. What exactly can you do to push the system's supporting power structures so far that they break, such that the overall system fails and chaos ensues? For example, to deal with a relationship problem, do you need to move out, or even to another town?

Finally, if you do achieve chaos, what is required to ensure that the phase transition to the change that you seek is actually accomplished? You need to remember the risk with chaos, that once you are free of your present oppression you do not want to fall under another system of control.

For instance, if you have an abusive partner or boss, and whom you finally escape, the last thing that you need is another abusive partner or boss.

This again shows that the deeper problem may lie somewhere else, such as in your habit, and willingness, to be involved in abusive relationships. If this is the case, then the real change that you require is in your self-perception, where you learn to think positively about yourself and refuse to tolerate abuse.

The prognosis

So, you've done the analysis, and understand what you are up against, how you might change it, what risks are involved, and also who you can ask for help. What is the probability that you will succeed?

First, what is the likelihood that you will do what you need to do? Do you have the courage to start?

Secondly, if, or when, you do find the courage, what is the chance that your plan will work, that you will get the change that you want?

Finally, if you don't, if for whatever reason you fail, what other outcomes are possible, or likely?

In conclusion, we can now see why accomplishing real change is so difficult. It involves changing global dictatorial systems, which are strong. It therefore requires careful analysis and planning, and risk, and there are no guarantees that it will work.

I don't, though, want you to be discouraged. Life is within our control. You can change yours.

The most important thing is to have the courage to try. And, if you don't succeed the first time, you have to try again. The people who do the best in life refuse to give up. Whatever setbacks they suffer, they never surrender. If you are not already like this, you can be, too.

That's it for Part 1 of the website. Congratulations if you read all of the articles. Part 2 will move on to consider Our World of Form.

© Roland Watson 2013