Can a Leopard Change Its Spots?

The phrase “a leopard can’t change its spots” suggests that people, like leopards, can’t fundamentally change who they are. Yet, while a leopard’s spots are fixed, human nature is far more flexible, we are capable of immense growth. However, real transformation requires looking beyond what’s visible on the surface, including the judgments and projections ppl carry.

A leopard’s spots serve a practical purpose in nature, blending it into its environment. These spots are part of its identity, like human characteristics shaped by our pasts, ‘beliefs’, and ‘habits’. But unlike leopards, we can reshape aspects of ourselves through self-awareness and conscious effort. This ability to change is a unique human gift, yet some find transformation harder than others, especially when they cling to negative emotions, judgments, and unconscious biases, and many ppl live rent free in other peoples minds.

One of the biggest challenges to change is projection, the unconscious tendency to attribute our own emotions, beliefs, and fears onto others. When we hold onto bitterness, judgments, or a small spiteful mindset, we often project these feelings outward, seeing flaws in others that are really reflections of who they themselves are. This kind of projection can trap ppl, reinforcing their own negative patterns and keeping them from seeing others and themselves, clearly. In doing so, we make it much harder to change, weighed down by illusions about others that prevent true growth.

For example if you knew me before 35 years old or under. By the age of 46, you have no idea who I became, or whom I evolved into. Just like I wouldn’t make that judgement on ppl from my past. One would hope they too started the process of ‘becoming’. maturing, healing. If not, they’re probably stuck in a lower mindset, an unconscious pattern or programming and they become more bitter and rigid in their ways as time moves on. Could you imagine how sad it would be if people stayed exactly the same, as they were, in their younger years; without ever growing mentally, intellectually, psychologically, & spiritually, into better versions of themselves. How small their worlds would really stay.

Real transformation means breaking free from these projections, recognising that the way we view others often reveals more about us than it does about them. It requires us to challenge our own biases, heal from bitterness, and shift our mindset from judgment to understanding. As we let go of these mental “spots,” we open up new space for growth, becoming kinder to others and ourselves.

So while a leopard’s spots may never change, peoples can and do. By addressing our projections and choosing awareness over judgment, we can shed old patterns and rewrite our stories. In embracing our capacity for change, we honor the limitless potential we each hold within us, creating the freedom to become better versions of ourselves ✍🏻

Photo by Jake Weirick on Unsplash

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