impermanence

A very dear friend of mine has been to five funerals in less than two weeks.  Five.  The passing of the most recent individual was someone she had know for many many years and as I listened to her share wonderful memories and watched tears effortlessly stream down her face I just listened.  Not just to her words, but to her heart, to her energy.  There was a sadness for each loss, yet great joys as she recalled wonderful memories each relationship had given her.  It is truly a great cosmic paradox that one of the best teachers in all of life, turns out to be death.

The uncertainty of our own impermanence is something we all wrestle with at one time or another knowing that our time on this earth is limited.  I too have spent many a nights in bed gazing at my husband's sleeping eyes appreciating that moment from the depths of my being knowing that there will come a day when the other won't be there.  It isn't that I am dwelling in sadness or worry in that moment, but more that I am trying to capture and appreciate it as fully as I can.  

​Although we never would really ask death to be our teacher, would we fully appreciate the preciousness of life without it?  It is scarcity that makes all things precious.  Life is a sacred gift and in each moment we have the opportunity to challenge ourselves to live from our highest potentials.  What if we knew we only had one week left on earth.  How much love could we give to the ones we love?  Think about what our life would look like if we lived in this way.  Think about how it would change what we value and deem as important.  What holds us back from living life in this way?

​The beauty of embracing deep truths is that we don't have to change our life; we can just begin to change how we live it.  We can get so wrapped up in the busy-ness of life, that we miss so many magical moments that are right before our eyes.  What actually gives life deep meaning is the willingness to live it fully.  

A fundamental dharmic teaching is...things change.  People, situations and feelings constantly come and go according to conditions that we may or may not choose, but how we respond is completely within our control.   In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali states, "Nothing is good or bad, only the mind creates that."  We often fight wanting to control other people, circumstances or our conditions and yet we can rest assure that anything outward in our life will eventually pass.  It is easy to want to hang out in the joys of life and skip over the struggles, but for most of us the hard is where the magic happens.  The hard is what perhaps gave birth to something great.  So how do we as individuals move through the troubled tides of change, of life with grace and ease?

We step into this moment and take it all in...the good the bad and all that lies in between.  We trust like the sun will rise tomorrow that everything we are going through in our life is a gateway to understanding ourselves more deeply, more fully.  It is preparing us for something more that we have asked for and through the process we build our own inner strength and fortitude.  We learn to appreciate and accept what is and in this way we begin to come home to ourself and our own inner guidance system.  Today we can take in this moment and appreciate all of the seemingly common things, the little things and remember that they all add up to something really great...your life.  So remember...

Live love,
Alysha