"Impermanence"
"Accepting my personal in-satisfaction, was the beginning of my journey."
"Look: Everything that can be lost, will be lost. It’s simple — how could we have missed it for so long?
Let’s grieve our losses fully, like ripe human beings,
But please, let’s not be so shocked by them.
Let’s not act so betrayed,
As though life had broken her secret promise to us.
Impermanence is life’s only promise to us,
And she keeps it with ruthless impeccability. "
-Excerpt from Jennifer Welwood "The Dakini Speaks"
Impermanence has been one of my greatest teachers. And I am forever grateful to have had insight into this reality during such an early time of my life.
My first teachers were my parents of course, but later one, impermanence revealed itself through the flesh and gave me a lesson that I would never forget nor want to forget.
We might think “well I’m happy with my life as it is”. That is so great and I genuinely rejoice.
What I fear and now know is that unfortunately things just don´t last. Nothing lasts.
Think about it, thousands of people die everyday, children, healthy people have accidents etc.. Think about emotions, do they last? They have a "shelf life", they come and go. Think about friendships, youth, social events, the weather, our skin, family, relationships, happiness, material wealth, everything eventually gets old and changes. This might seam "obvious", and yet we suffer because we want things to last, we insist in creating our own reality while negating the actual reality that we live in.
The thing is, unfortunately, we tend to place the label of permanence in all that is in-permanent. We tend to want to change things, situations, to fix and make them different. This feeling of wanting things to be different, at least in my experience, can cause a lot of suffering. It causes friction, limitations and restriction. The mind wonders out and about looking for solutions. In the end it becomes fragmented and we become distracted and forget all about the present moment, about our innate joy and natural contentment. We then miss out on being present, and then before we know it, life surprises us, as if someone lifted the carpet below us, and we are surprised at old age, sickness and death. Impermanence, the one thing that has always been there all along, we fight to not understand, we avoid it at all costs.
"Amor fati"
"Everything that I have gone through, learned from, the decisions that I have made, have all been worth it because I am where I am, doing what I am doing right now."
A new dear friend shared Nietzche´s phrase of "Amor fati" with me and it made me reflect. The meaning of this Latin phrase "May be translated as "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and loss, as good or, at the very least, necessary."
I definitely think that everything that I have gone through, learned from, the decisions that I have made, have all been worth it because I am where I am, doing what I am doing right now.
I think this says a lot about how strongly and passionate Ifeel about this revolutionary project and I believe that this has the potential to be one of the long term solutions, from the inside out, for our degenerate times.
"Be a Warrior not a worrier"
"Everything that I have gone through, learned from, the decisions that I have made, have all been worth it because I am where I am, doing what I am doing right now."
A change in attitude is everything. It can change your energy, the way you express yourself, the way you treat yourself and others and basically everything!
It changes the "approach", the HOW you do things, say things and how you RESPOND.
I am aware that it is difficult to change outer circumstances, but we have total control on how we approach moment to moment situations and circumstances in our lives.
This automatically takes the weight off of having to blame external situations for example: politics, people not doing things our way, endless excuses it becomes exhausting, blame, traffic, etc.. If you think about it, as we blame external circumstances, we give our very own power to that, and as a result, it automatically disempowers us to create a new approach, a new perspective, a new solution to that which we think is a problem.
What to do about this?
Take all adversity as the path. It is the simplest and wisest thing to do. Prepare for it in advance, BE A WARRIOR NOT A WORRIER!
Practice on and off the cushion, these practices complement each other! Be patient and be fearless! Face your fears, your worries, your concerns, don´t hide from them! If you hide and/or avoid, you empower them!
For more on this topic I recommend teachings on LOJONG (mind training)
Alan Wallace has great online teachings that you can find recordings of online on
www.sbinstitute.org and the following book: "Meditation, Transformation and Dream Yoga" is a great source as well!
Get out of your own way!
Get out of your own way; there is a middle way! Stop taking yourself too seriously, look out, rejoice in others virtue and well being, let their joy, their efforts, their goodness fill your heart! Then, contentment arises effortlessly in your own being!
Responding with anger and frustration is easy, why? Because it has been our “go to” habit for years and years!
But ask yourself: “Does this actually help me? Does it actually bring me joy? Does it inspire me to help others? The answer, when we respond with affliction, is no.
What to do? the opposite! This is the antidote.
Our untrained minds are like a child running around with a knife! It can be wild, even dangerous and have serious consequences!
This is why training our minds to develop new healthy mental and emotional habits will bring endless benefit to ourselves and therefore it will be automatically beneficial to others. No time to waste! Use every minute and every moment of adversity and take it on the path. Use it!, it will be used regardless, so, I invite you to use to for virtue vs planting old seeds of useless habits!
This is the path of the warrior, the kind warrior that discerns exactly where the work needs to be done and strays away from the rumination patterns.
Do not fall into the easy extremes, its easy to reify, its easy to take things personally and to react with anger or frustration..
This is the easy way, not for you and me I say!
I insist, I know we can do better, I know we must! We are here to evolve, no to stay stuck!
Be creative, you can offer your situation, ask for help (this requires some humility), pray that “May all beings who are feeling your stress be freed from it!”
Give all your expectations away, GIVE it all, release it, let go and rest in that innate fulfillment that comes along.. This sense of innate satisfaction, rest in that, and pray: “May all beings feel this freedom and inner peace, may we stabilize this perspective, may it grow and manifest as a perfectly balanced mental and emotional well being.