Tweak or Transformation?

 My friend's comment to last week's post has had me thinking all week about the how's of making positive changes.  We can find the right teacher or mentor, take up a spiritual practice or, my favorite, sit down with a good book that inspires us, but we still have to make the commitment to put into action new ways of thinking or being in the world. Her question, the same many of us ask, isn't "what should I do?" but "how can I do it?"
 I think often the challenge lies in the nature of inspiration itself. True inspiration excites us, calls us to action and has a sense of urgency to it. We want the payoff now; we're ready to be transformed!! We feel elated that we have found a new way of seeing things that make sense and resonates with our soul, and we somehow expect our dynamic new insight to manifest itself in magical external rewards. And then, when we still have to pay the bills, the kids are still making us crazy, we still have moments of anger, sadness, fear or loneliness, the reality of our ordinary lives settles back on us. We feel disillusioned and wonder why we can't keep our spiritual momentum and desire to make authentic changes alive.
 So, the question remains; how do we keep moving towards our best selves? How do we take the ideas that inspire us and keep our good intentions from falling away when our initial enthusiasm starts to wane?  I think we may want to focus less on "transformation" and more on "tweaking".
 To transform is to make a radical and profound change; not something we may feel completely confident we're capable of. It's easy to lose faith in our ability to alter ourselves and our way of living in such a big way. The people in our lives may not love the idea either; their fear of losing the "us" they've grown accustomed to can result in them being less than supportive. Personal transformation can be daunting enough in and of  itself; trying to do it while those around us, consciously or not, are sabotaging our efforts, makes it more difficult still. The end result is we often give up on our new convictions and settle back into a feeling of frustration and defeat.
 Tweaking, on the other hand, is quieter, less overwhelming and friendlier to those around us. Most of us feel fairly good about our chances of making small changes stick. Making a plan to spend 15 minutes checking in with ourselves in meditation is less threatening than promising ourselves we will become Buddhas over night. Committing to being conscious of where the food we eat comes from and practicing gratitude before a meal is less threatening than promising to never let meat touch your lips again and giving up sugar forever.
    It's true, some people do experience almost instant enlightenment. Some seem to reinvent themselves dramatically, quickly and for good. But most of us will have to settle for changing things that matter to us, to waking up, to getting closer to our best selves, a little at a time. 
  So, keep tweaking. Before you know it you'll look around and realize you've not only transformed yourself, but you've transformed the world as well. One tweak at a time.