Can people change?

I don’t know why it came into my mind right now. I just recall some conversation a long time ago where the main topic was whether people can change or not. I remember someone (i think it was a woman or a girl) had a strong opinion about this, namely that people can not change. Maybe this conversation was in some movie that i watched? Of course i am thinking: this probably comes into my mind because i am asking myself if i can change. But on second thought i think i am not really asking myself whether i can change but rather i observe myself changing and i am trying to take a stand regarding to this observation. How should i feel about this? Can i believe and accept this obvservation and even share this with other people? Or is my mind playing tricks on me and do i fall into my own trap when i tell myself that i have changed?

But it really seems to me quite limiting to think that people cannot change. No matter what the “answer” to this question is, i think it’s more useful to believe that change is possible. I guess also the question one has to ask is what is change? If someone has some pattern that they are stuck with for their whole life, can there still be a change even if this pattern never stops? An insight is a change, isn’t it? Becoming aware of something opens some possibilities: perhaps the possibility of choice – doing something or not doing it, and if not then maybe other possibilities, like realising your own actions and their consequences…