Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes....

This is a time of change. 'Vote for Change!' was the cry. And we did. And we wait, with baited breath and high hopes, for a radial change in the way our government operates.

Change is often equated with loss. The loss of a loved one, the loss of health, the loss of job. And because of this change is feared as much as, in times of darkness, it is welcomed, when the change is bringing light and hope and...escape from whatever ties are keeping you tethered.

Fear of change is selfish. I remember a perfect moment in my life when I wanted time to stand still and for nothing to change. A simple moment. It was a Sunday evening, my kids were quite young and having spend the day out playing they were bathed and cuddled up to me and their dad watching 'London's Burning', a popular TV programme in the 90s. I was in a moment of pure bliss, surrounded by my family, all safe and sound, and I remember thinking 'I want this feeling to last forever'. Of course it didn't. The kids grow up, do their own thing, make their own mistakes and successes and never again will you feel so secure in the knowledge that you can keep them safe and protected. That magical moment of bliss is so rare that I can count the number of times I have felt that way on one hand. In that moment of bliss is the knowledge that it is all going to chance. Allowing this knowledge to enter your moment is when the bliss stops being pleasurable and instead becomes something to fear. You start to mourn a negative while you are still in the positive.

Desire for change is selfish. There are many more times in my life when I dreamt of change than when I wished for permanence . A wish for a different life, a better place to live, a different job, car, dress size. A wish for change that would give me liberty, set me free physically and emotionally. But I have come to learn that living in the moment is the key to contentment and that a desire for change can be a dangerous thing.

Impermanence -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night." The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and for hope. If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don't suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes away.
If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.

'A Change Is Gonna Come' we are told. And it has. Finally. Maybe. A trickle of change. Change is good (always?) Change is the cycle of life. Nothing stays the same. Which is a good thing...isn't it?