“One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.”

~ Dōgen

Anicca. Impermanence. Change.

Everything that arises passes away.

It’s a fact of life. We all know it, yet we so often want to deny the fact and pretend like things can stay the same, relationships can stay the same, people don’t change, there is some semblance of sameness, of control.

The sooner we can accept the reality of constant change, the better. Breathe it in.

The present moment only lasts a moment. Change is the only constant. The only “stability” to be found is in change itself. Last year, a friend of mine wrote a post about the nature of change:

Fall, more so than any other change in nature, forces us to come to terms with the nature of change.

When the sun beams, it’s easy to smile back. Yet in fall, once the clouds and rain descend, green becomes a quickly vanishing memory and for every vibrant leaf glistening on a tree, there are dozens already decaying on the ground.  It’s too early to feel the warmth of holidays and spring is nowhere in sight.

…

Fall is not about loss or gain. Fall is letting go of the parts that will no longer directly serve the future of the whole. Fall is a process in shedding the old to withstand new conditions and make space for new growth. Fall is about trusting that everything that falls already served a purpose and with patience, what needs to rise again will. Let the leaves fall. Let the rain fall. Stand strong. Fall is here.

Where I live, it’s called The Land of Eternal Spring. We don’t get the amazing color-changing leaves like up north.

Nevertheless, September feels like fall. It’s rainy season. It gets chilly at night. Even so, change is all around me. My baby has started crawling; she is going on nine months old. My body is adapting to working again, after a long summer vacation. My creativity is blooming and I am writing more than ever before, but that will change too.

It’s all in flux. The ebb and flow can be expected and embraced.

The theme of change goes along with the chakra of the month, the second chakra: the sacral plexus. Its issues in include sexuality, sensuality, fluidity and change. Its element is water.

We can take a lesson from the trees releasing their leaves. Autumn is a time to let go. To ask ourselves:

What in my life has already served its purpose?
What can I relinquish?
What lessons have I learned?
How can I let go?
How am I evolving?

Even His Holiness, the Pope, is embracing change:

“Human self-understanding changes with time, and so also human consciousness deepens.

Let us think of when slavery was accepted or the death penalty was allowed without any problem. So we grow in the understanding of the truth. Exegetes and theologians help the church to mature in her own judgment.

Even the other sciences and their development help the church in its growth in understanding. There are ecclesiastical rules and precepts that were once effective, but now they have lost value or meaning.”

 

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Ed: Bryonie Wise