There are some foundational things about your identity that just cannot change.  There are some things – scars, conditioning, desires, or preferences that are just a foundational part of your identity – the stuff that just cannot change.  I guess it’s possible for something so drastic to happen in your life that you can’t help but change.

It is possible though to change your behavior.  There is much research to support this idea – even though there are foundational things that cannot change about how you are.  It is possible to change what you do and how you do it.

Mikhail Csikszentmihalyi wrote about how when our attention, motivation, and situation meet that we can find a sense of Flow.  Go check out his book.  It’s focus is creativity and happiness, but it also has to do with finding the place where your foundational identity and a change of behavior can meet.

We are limited by ability and skill, but can be motivated to change.

You can teach an old dog new tricks – you just can’t make the dog young again.