Impermanence

 

"Long live impermanence! Without it a flower would never blossom, a baby would never be able to walk or become a teenager and grow into adulthood." -Thich Nhat Hahn

One of the greatest causes of our suffering is our desire for the things we love to remain unchanged and the things we don't like to go away permanently. It is absolutely normal! Why in the world should we ever want a toothache or unpleasant people to stay in our lives? And if we could do something about it, wouldn't we make disease, war, poverty, and so on, disappear? Why in the world would we want to see our youthful faces change to wrinkles and our healthy bodies to be filled with aches and pains? It certainly goes without saying that we would never want the people we love to leave us and die. Mindfulness helps us to let go of our resistance to the changes that are inevitable and to accept the present moment just as it is, whether the moment is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

I feel at peace today as I learn to accept life on life's terms.