Everything Changes

The Concept - Impermanence

In short - Everything is changing, all of the time. The world around us, the people around us, ourselves, our thoughts and feelings and the way we relate to our experiences. Recognizing that everything changes, and noticing it happen in your life, can help us relax our grip a bit. If we continue to cling to the way things, people and life is now, we're bound to suffer when they inevitably change.

Examples from my life - The uprooting change in identity and lifestyle from independent (married) person to mother, changes in my relationship to my husband from dating to co-parenting and an ever-changing connection, changes in relationship to my brothers as we all got married and had kids, changes in our bodies over time as we age and the ebb and flow of "being in shape", the changing sleep patterns of one kid, then two, then three, the change in eating habits of the 5 humans I'm responsible for, the unexpected maintenance needed on our house, the building of a community and friendships, taking on a leadership role and gaining confidence, the week by week changes in outlook for our preschool's future, the emotional roller coaster of drama in running a small organization through a pandemic and realizing that this too shall pass, the changing weather, the changing seasons, changes in moods and emotions, the arising and passing of thoughts.

So What? - As I continue to remind myself that everything changes and notice it in my everyday life, moment to moment, day to day and year to year, I am starting to realize that it's true and that it's okay. It helps me relax and not be so anxious. When I'm not expecting things to always stay just the way they are, I am not so shocked and uprooted when things change. And when bad things happen I can step back a bit and realize that this is just part of an ever-changing string of events, that this too shall pass and that it won't feel this bad forever. It gives me a little space to respond calmly or wisely instead of having a knee-jerk reaction of anger, deep sadness or fear.

Resources - Podcast - Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein, Episode 02 The Wisdom of Impermanence