Taking a pause in my morning inspirational readings, I sat back and gazed out into the yard. The sun was at an angle so that it lit up a full, lush branch of pecan leaves from behind. It was dazzling. I was happy to see it and felt appreciation for the sight. A little sun magic.
I read a few more pieces. Sat back. Looked out again. The leaves were dark; the sun now past the roof of the porch. The moment of dazzle gone.
“Everything is change,” I thought to myself. “It isn’t as if change is something coming; change is all there is.”
Like the moment-by-moment changing panorama of a magnificent sunset, or a quiet morning view, each moment of now is a change from the previous moment.
In the midst of a major change, we have many opportunities to examine our relationship to change. What we sometimes forget is that even when life seems placid and steady, change is constant. This is what the sun and the leaves said to me.
Michael Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, says it like this:
“Change can be viewed as either exciting or frightening, but regardless of how we view it, we must all face the fact that change is the very nature of life.”
When we resist change, we struggle with life. Mark Nepo, author of Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, brings in another dimension. He talks about the two teachers he has met while deep inside himself, “the truth of things as they are” and “the experience of being human.” As we go through change, that is to say, as we experience life, this is the delicate balance point within. Sometimes What Is comes with emotions that are so discomforting, they pull us in and we are all at sea, being human. Sometimes we can step back from the emotional response and remain curious about What Is, clear in our knowing that whatever is unfolding is to our good.
In a recent conversation with a close friend, I confessed that I was at that moment in a state of some unease about my unknown future. Curiosity nowhere in sight. She gently reminded me that each day when our feet hit the floor we face an unknown future. My ego wanted to argue degrees of ‘unknownness,’ but as I felt that arise I took a breath and stepped back. She was quite right. The energy shifted. I had space to reconsider.
So how do we live at this tenuous fulcrum (support or point of rest) in our daily life? The philosopher, writer, and teacher Alan Watts advocated this approach:
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
I can advocate that, especially actual dancing. I also advocate naps!
And my favorite take on change? Comes to us from the inimitable Louise Hay …
“I am safe. It’s only change.”
