IMPERMANENCE again!

I sit here scratching at several mosquito bites I have. Very annoying, distracting. And I think of the Buddhist concept of impermanence. Grateful to know that mosquito bites are impermanent. And then I think of a dear friend who died recently. Much harder to be grateful for impermanence there. And yet, of course, permanence would be another sort of curse. This seems to be a common theme in my thinking of late. Trying to grasp the idea of impermanence, I realize that there is nothing that I can name that is not impermanent. Hunger, pain, sorrow, joy, the seasons, sunlight, my cup of tea, my life.

I listened to a meditation podcast on impermanence this morning. The guide listed item after item to be aware of and then called our awareness to its impermanence. Our own body, all of humanity, all governments, the planet earth. And then he ended with the surprising call to the truth of impermanence of all things, and how that creates hope! It took me by surprise at first – but then I began to smile as I realized that is correct. If nothing is permanent everything is possible. An odd paradox.

If you’d like to listen to this guided meditation from the Plum Village website, you can click on it HERE.

May you have a peaceful week (Ha! Ha! My computer just changed my typing of week, to weak… hmmmm). Well, may your week be peaceful and may you also find peace in your times of weakness!!

A Small Truth

The small creek

plays tag with itself,

plays hide and seek,

plays hopscotch.

It doesn’t reflect

my face back to me.

It just runs on

in its marathon

to the sea.

It doesn’t wait

for the right time.

The right time

is now.

It does whisper

this small truth…

You must move on.

~Penny Hackett-Evans