Do people change? I don’t think they do. The vast majority do nothing new, ever. They run the same game over and over and over and over and over.
If their game works, they run it.
If their game doesn’t work, they still run it.
You find these things out as time goes by, especially if you maintain your relationships. Leon at 25 years old is still Leon at 50. I haven’t changed since I was 5 years old as far as I can tell.
Even when it seems I have changed, it’s not authentic. I’ve just gone back to something I used to do that I’ve not done in awhile.
Point here is that everyone has a game they run (or two or three or twenty). If you really want to effect change in your life you’ve got to opt not to run your game.
You can compare to an alcoholic that opts not to drink but get this loud and clear: Even if a person is not running their game, they’ve still got it.
Never mind, what’s your sign. What is your game?
Do people change? Yes, but they have to hit rock bottom or have a rude awakening. That’s just the rules of life I guess.
And Toni, I find those changes people make when they hit rock bottom to be temporary / an illusion in almost all cases.
I don’t believe that anyone ever really changes at the core of who they are. If they do improve their lives, it is because they learn to make better choices out of the same behaviors. An addict stays an addict — they just change what they are addicted to. For example, Angelina Jolie exchanged drugs for adoptions/babies. Some alcoholics exchange liquor for God, or AA, or “clean living”, or workaholicism, or whatever they focus their addictive, obsessive, escapist nature onto. They can change the outcome of their game sometimes (depending on their game) but they don’t change the core of themselves that demands a certain game be run.
No one ever really changes. They just get better or worse at making choices with regards to their core nature.
I’m a Libra. My game? I don’t know. I usually think I’m fairly self aware, but sitting here right now, I’m not able to really say. It’s probably a blind spot for me. Someone could probably point it out, and I’d think they were full of it. 🙂
Oh, and to clarify, I’m not sure that Angelina Jolie’s change in addiction is necessarily a good thing; she was just the first example to come to mind.
simple pleasures (chopped cucumber + ginger on a piece of fish)
complex emotions
art that makes me cry
books that make me feel like writing
friends
walks through the neighbourhood at dusk, when curtains are still open
lamps, NOT overhead lighting
clean sheets
warm skin
…
Taurus Sun in the 5th, here
My game— getting away with things, and then loosing respect for the persons that didn’t catch me!
Pat – just FYI, I catch all kinds of people doing all kinds of things and never let on.
I do think various kinds of personal change is possible, absolutely– I think it may have something to do with pluto in the natal chart and its aspects.
I believe I have changed and may change more, as I get older.
I know I’m speaking abstractly here.
Trying an example: I’m very cancerian. Not gonna wake up tomorrow and be Sagittarian, even if I wanted to. I believe we have natures/souls.
And yet– I know I’ve changed so I’m just assuming it’s possible for others.
As for my game, that’s a mysterious question to me. I’m just trying to get by. I make mistakes along the way, but mostly I just want to do my art and survive being on this earth, in this body with as much love as I can round up
(Thinking about this more: maybe it’s not change but that I misunderstood my true nature: that it got covered over by life, trauma, experience, etc.
Or perhaps it’s not change but a deepening of the self — deepening should be required.
And everytime I go against my nature and try to reach an ideal — I consider that a change. I use behavior as the proof that it’s happening (rather than intent). I can see how this will devolve into a semantic argument so I’ll stop here except to say aha! My “game” IS change! 😉
My games is to get out of the rut called normal living. To attain the things I dream about. To open myself up completely. To always look at everything differently. To gain happiness that is so illusive in my life.
I hate games.
but I do love board and card games.
Scorpio 1st house conjunct Saturn. 🙂
My game is that i always get myself into extreme situations, and almost always the element of time is involved. Then i deal with it and become exhausted and then i swear i’ll never put myself through that again. Then i do it again. Somehow i always pull myself through, i think that’s why i never stopped the game. I’m afraid one day i’ll face extreme consequences but that day has yet to come (knock on wood).
I’m libra. And i guess the game is tipping the scale one way or another and then balancing it again. Hope the scale won’t break one day 😛
Change in regards to individual behavior is somewhat subjective. My opinion is there are some aspects that never change and some that continually change for the better or the worse.
Any how I like Nick’s take on the subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGfFjMuOA0k
I don’t think people change. I think who they are, their basic motivations, is shown in the natal chart and that is static. I think that what is observed as change is the ability to assimilate new information, also shown in the chart. a mind that can assimilate new information will change it’s approach (mars) to satisfying it’s needs/wants but the motivation does not change.
Yes, people change. You cannot go through life and remain the same person that you are.
Bad habits, however, are hard to let go of. THAT’S where you run into trouble.
I feel I’ve changed enormously since I was 5. There are many things I have discovered about myself and other people, and my world view has shifted in some profound way (up to now) every two or three years or so.
I think of myself as a work in progress — constantly striving towards an ideal. Is that what you mean by “game”? ’cause if so, that’s my game.
I’m pretty much the same: extremely loving (my nickname included ‘Kissy’), sad when people I love are sad, wanting my own way, wanting to play all the time, crying when angry, snuggly in a bed, like pretty clothes, a sense that I’m part of something big and a desire to avoid pain.
Sorry, it’s a list kind of day:)
Same here Lotion. Extreeeme. Like a cat with nine lives, puttin’ myself on the line to see if I can get out alive. I like the excitement, the edge.
“Even if a person is not running their game, they’ve still got it.” Disturbing. More proof you can’t judge anything by appearances, not even actions. The game is always there, dormant or active, it exists.
absorbing information.
probably some other stuff too.
I like to start from scratch, build up something conplicated and stable, then throw in a wrench and fuck it up so I can watch the explosion and see what lasts/is left. I like to break the system.
But I’m trying not to now because it isn’t exactly productive.
One’s essence never changes, yet change is a life constant. My game is: be, be-ing… evolving to become fully who I am –hopefully!
[ 8th house Taurus Sun and Sag Moon. ]
I don’t really agree: You can see what’s ‘wrong’ with you, and as one of your recent posts suggests, you can choose to believe your hologram / delusions, etc.
Where I disagree with you, Elsa, is that while you may only be able to play with the cards you’re dealt, you can also ask yourself (well, not you personally, but ‘you’ as in people in general) can choose to ask whether the ‘game’ is working for you – Do you like the results?
Granted, you may find it’s very hard to look at the reality, and granted, you may slip back, but you may not slip back into your ‘game’ as far back if you keep tabs on yourself and your delusions.
Does that make sense?
Cancerw – I am not sure I understand what you are saying but if I *do* understand you, I agree with you and said so here:
“You can compare to an alcoholic that opts not to drink but get this loud and clear: Even if a person is not running their game, they’ve still got it. ”
It might not have been clear but what I meant is an alcoholic might opt not to drink (does not like the results) but is still an alcoholic.
Yes. I concur. I’m an Aquarian. My game is barging into lives, shaking them up then leaving when I get bored.