Change: Adaptation is a Necessary Skill

by Michael Corthell

If someone says to you, ''Tell me what to do!''  What is the best answer? There are millions of answers, and it is okay to honor their request, especially to help them out of a 'spot', but a better request for them to make is this, ''Please help me train my mind to adapt to any circumstance.'' This is very much like teaching someone to fish, rather than just giving them a fish. 

Helping other people to find within themselves the tools not only for survival but to also grow and THRIVE is good.

''Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.''

—Stephen Hawking

While answered questions and planning are necessary, people who accept life on life's terms, the stoics, don't need an answer for every question or a plan for every single contingency. They simply do not worry. Why is that? Because they have confidence in themselves. They believe that they'll be able to adapt to any situation and roll with the circumstances they find themselves in. They also know that everything happens for a reason and therefore is an opportunity. 

Instruction and acquired knowledge are good, for instance, adaptable people cultivate skills like creativity, independence, self-confidence, ingenuity, and the ability to problem solve. All of these make adaptable persons resilient instead of rigid. You can and must do the same.

Part of a good healthy and productive life is training your mind so that you can adapt to any circumstance thrown at you. To make the best lemonade out of any lemon. Your well-trained mind is your most valuable asset.

Every day you have a choice to be negative or positive-minded...

• Choose a positive mindset — ALWAYS.
• Control. Life happens, things happen. They are out of your control. But, you can control your reaction to those events. You can control what you think and do about it.
• Preparation. You need to react well to whatever will happen in life by being prepared. Outside events don't matter. What matters is your interpretation and how you react to them.
• Balance. You decide whether events beyond your control are good or bad, whether or not they're just or unjust. The emotions you feel are real. They come from the inside, not the outside.
• Stay calm. How you handle small negative opportunities is how you handle everything. Don't sweat the small stuff, because in the larger scheme of things, it's all small stuff.
• Do the right thing. Always be prepared to do the right thing. You will never regret it.

Finally, life is supposed to be difficult. Things are supposed to be 'not perfect'. It's a roller coaster ride and roller coasters go up and they go down—they are supposed to make unexpected turns. We have to learn to ride the 'coaster'. That's why we are all here. God didn't say life would be easy, did He? And he said that it wouldn't be fair (except in the end).

So, we prepare ourselves for inevitable change. We train our minds to adapt to any circumstances life presents. That is how we succeed.

''Change is the end result of all true learning.''

—Leo Buscaglia

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Health: the ability to adapt to an ever changing environment

by Renger Witkamp

Health has always been more difficult to measure than disease and is often regarded as a vague, intangible variable. Renger shows us how there is still too much emphasis on health being viewed and studied from the perspective of disease.

He will take us back to the principles of physiology and biology and vividly explains a revolution in the way we could look at the effects of nutrition and physical exercise. Renger Witkamp (1959) is professor in Nutrition and Pharmacology at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, which has been established in 2006 as a new academic chair.