All change!
There are many lessons in life, but there is one that underlines our existence. It is a simple truth about life that the Buddha pointed out thousands of years ago – and one that is still relevant today.
The Buddha said it simply: Everything is impermanent.
All things change; all things must pass.
Yes, we do know that – on one level. If we think about it, but we forget about this when we are engaged in our everyday lives. Situations and events arise which upset and annoy us, and they needn’t, because many of these situations and events are part of this teaching that all things pass – nothing is permanent.
But then why do we cling to memories as if they are still real and not a fading memory?
Why do we get so upset when we lose something?
Why do we expect something to go on forever – like a job or a relationship?
If a job or our relationship with a loved one is to last our whole lives then that is a wonderful achievement. But this teaching is not saying we are all doomed! Without being too morbid, even in a life-long job, or relationship, it will end – with retirement, or terms of relationship, one will pass away.
What I am pointing out is our tendency to hold onto something when it has gone; how we hold onto the sadness or depression over the loss of a loved one, a job, a house, a toy.
Sadness and upset does and will happen – and often for some of us, when we lose something or someone. Perhaps we cannot stop the event that causes the upset. But we can chose how we react to the event, and it is important how we recover and move out of the sadness that is important.
Another way of putting it is that where we cannot prevent a change, whatever that might be, our relationship to these events is the important fact – how do we deal with change?
Yoga and Buddhist texts offer advice, and techniques to deal with this awkward yet very real truth.
Put quite simply, we are taught not to grasp onto/hold onto/cling onto these things. By clinging onto something do we cause our suffering and misery; we need to learn how to let go.
Easier said than done I hear you say. And that’s true, but if we learn how to let go of the lost lover, the lost job, or prized toy… we are able to move on.
In deep cases of loss this process of moving on and letting go can take a long time, with much sadness and tears, but if we persevere the healing can be complete and profound.
Yoga – exercises and meditation – reveal to us this ebbing and rising of emotions, how everything moves in waves. Learning this and adapting this can help us get through the worst of times and move beyond them.
As the Buddha taught, nothing is permanent, everything is impermanent – and this includes the bad stuff as well as the good.
