All my life there have been some or the other changes, some great, some small. I have dreamed of some changes and dreaded over others. Change has brought peace plus anxiety to my life. I have been through the game of emotions while experiencing change and I have also learned to embrace it. We observe this at all levels. On a universal level, stars form and collapse. On a global level, continents shift and climates change. On a personal level, we observe the decay of our body, changes to our mind, relationships coming and going, our possessions wearing out.
It’s always good to define our priorities in life. By priorities I mean in terms of people. With time and seasons, people do change which is a bitter truth. Here, I don’t intend to talk about only others but also about myself; I also might have changed for many people. But does it really matter when people we were, so close to become just an acquaintance gradually? Yes, it does matter for a moment or two but life does move on and so does people in our lives. Priorities do keep changing and when we look back, we just have some faint memoirs to which we smile. Bygones are bygones! Who could ever do anything about it? We come across many ups and downs in life and that’s the way it is supposed to be. Everyone is there with us at our ups or let’s put it this way – we don’t really notice who are with us during the ups because we’re just so happy and content that we happen to overlook. During our downs things are not quite the same as that’s the time when we really need people to stand for us. The matter of fact is that those very people are the ones who are our friends in true sense and loves us unconditionally. It is just a process of making us stronger with time. If we just get going with the fact that nothing is permanent – be it the good times or the bad, life becomes heaps easier to live!
When we fail to acknowledge impermanence, we cling to things. We cling to our youth, to our health, to our relationships, and to our possessions. We cling to them as though they could provide lasting happiness, as though they will last forever. Eventually, reality intervenes. That to which we cling is taken from us, and we forced to face the truth of impermanence. Thus we have the pain of a stolen car, of an ended relationship, or the death of a loved one.
In reality, the pain associated with clinging arises even before these moments. The pain arises earlier in the form of fear. Deep down, we are already aware of the impermanence. Therefore, if we cling to something that is temporary, we live in fear of the day when it will be taken from us. We can have a much happier life if we instead realize and accept the impermanence of existence. We can see the futility of clinging to things, and instead learn to appreciate them while we have them, but without staking our happiness on them. This also helps us to make better decisions. When we understand that we will change, and that other people will change, then we can recognize when a fresh approach is needed.
Expecting and even anticipating change has brought stability to the way I live. I appreciate change as if it were a divine plan; in fact I believe it is. I know that all of life’s lessons could not be achieved if any one thing were to remain the same. I believe change occurs as part of a plan set in motion before the beginning of time. I believe all changes are a test and catapult to launch us forward onto the next phase of our existence.
We know deep down that nothing is permanent, yet we strive so very hard to achieve the same impermanent things. When we don’t achieve them, we are so disheartened forgetting that “nothing is permanent”!!!!!! That is the cycle of life!!!!
I believe “Nothing is permanent, everything will change” and I am thankful for that!
I believe “Nothing is permanent, everything will change” and I am thankful for that!
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