Everything changes. Objects respond to their environment and fade or wear. Living things are either growing or dying. Our neighborhoods have changed, our very planet is changing. “This too shall pass” is a popular saying in recovery groups and it applies to both challenging moments and delightful ones. Everything passes. And while cognitively we get this, emotionally we often resist and deny the reality that nothing is permanent. Not age, not beauty, not the lives of our beloveds.
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote "All is flux. Nothing stays still.” Much of his writing utilized river imagery, reminding us that because of the movement of a river, we can step into a river in the same place multiple times, but each time the water where we step is new, and it is on some level a different river because the very nature of a river is constant flux. Yet the river keeps its identity, its name, even if it has been deeply changed by what has passed through it. We are much like that river, affected by the events that pass through us, yet holding onto who we are as we make our way through what is happening.
Perhaps we can learn to be even more like the river, to not hold things too tightly and to cultivate more willingness to let go as needed. When you are suffering, remember that whatever is going on, it is only a moment in time. Take a breath, and allow it to pass. When you have joy, love every minute of it as much as you can. And rather than bemoan when something is over and done, we could celebrate and be grateful that we had the gift of its presence in our life for the time we were granted.
Charles Darwin wrote: "It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” This is true for individuals as much as it is for species. In order to adapt to changes, we must be willing to let go of what is to embrace what is arriving, just as we do with our breath. Remember that every breath is an energy exchange with the universe, and the exhale is just as important as the inhale. May you breath freely.
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote "All is flux. Nothing stays still.” Much of his writing utilized river imagery, reminding us that because of the movement of a river, we can step into a river in the same place multiple times, but each time the water where we step is new, and it is on some level a different river because the very nature of a river is constant flux. Yet the river keeps its identity, its name, even if it has been deeply changed by what has passed through it. We are much like that river, affected by the events that pass through us, yet holding onto who we are as we make our way through what is happening.
Perhaps we can learn to be even more like the river, to not hold things too tightly and to cultivate more willingness to let go as needed. When you are suffering, remember that whatever is going on, it is only a moment in time. Take a breath, and allow it to pass. When you have joy, love every minute of it as much as you can. And rather than bemoan when something is over and done, we could celebrate and be grateful that we had the gift of its presence in our life for the time we were granted.
Charles Darwin wrote: "It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” This is true for individuals as much as it is for species. In order to adapt to changes, we must be willing to let go of what is to embrace what is arriving, just as we do with our breath. Remember that every breath is an energy exchange with the universe, and the exhale is just as important as the inhale. May you breath freely.
RSS Feed