Can a leopard change his spots?

The question came up on Twitter:  Can a leopard change his spots?  My reply, not without a really good stylist.

Which brought up the topic of Change.

Not the spare change that floats around at the bottom of the cup holder in your car, but true, into the core being of who you are Change.  After all, if you believe the thousand memes on Pinterest, you are the Change, be the Change, if you don’t like what you see you can Change, and the ever popular breakup line, “you’ve changed” or “I’ve changed.”

When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. ― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

It seems we’re happy to embrace Change, even believe Change is inevitable…as long as we’re talking about ourselves.  We go to therapy and talk about how we’ve changed.  We’re better. We’re healed.

Extending that belief to another person?  Not so easy.  We mutter things like, “she’ll never change.”  And, as we limit our thinking, our leopards never change their spots.

At least not without a really good stylist…and I happen to know one.