Transformation vs Change

In the realm of personal development, you'll hear two words pretty often: change and transformation. I want to make sure you understand the difference between the two. It's not that complicated but it's sure worth distinguishing the two.

Whenever you hear the word "change", one way you can understand it is this: it refers to changing your behavior or the way you feel. It means that you alter your actions or your reactions to them.

Transformation, on the other hand, means something much more profound. When you transform, you expand your dimensions to become more of yourself. I know this probably makes no sense at all. See if you can understand it easily with these two metaphors.

Think of a square. Let's CHANGE that square. It become a rectangle. It might also become a triangle. It might also become a circle. Or even an oval. Now take the same square. This time, let's TRANSFORM that square. It becomes a cube. It becomes more of itself.

You'll also find a great example of transformation in plants. Imagine an acorn. Through its evolution, an acorn becomes a little shoot, then develops a trunk, then grows branches and leaves until it's a full-blown oak tree that in turn produces even more acorns.

Throughout the whole process, the essence of the acorn is the same as that of the shoot, the trunk, the branches, the leaves and the offspring acorns. That is to say, the acorn becomes more of itself. It transforms.

When you change, you might stop smoking. Or change your eating. Your behavior changes.

When you transform, you actually expand. And with this expansion, several patterns of behavior and feelings will as well. You become more of yourself.

--Stever Bauer