The Times, They Are A-Changin'
I just returned home from watching another Hawaiian sunset. How was it, you ask? It was beautiful, as always. Stunning even. But it was completely different than the one yesterday. And the day before that, and the day before that....and so on. The setting sun provides a sparkling example of the law of nature which promises that everything arises, then passes away. Change, change, change. Count on it. Don't try to relive what you saw yesterday. Just enjoy what today's picture has to offer.
Earlier this afternoon, I was listening to my ipod and an old song came on by Duran Duran. I started to remember how the very first 45'' single I ever bought was their song called "The Reflex". Man, I used to love that song. When I hear that song now, well....eh. It's OK. The Duran Duran song that came on today was "New Moon on Monday". I can remember not liking that song when I first heard it many years ago. But now, I sing along loudly at the chorus. I love it! For whatever reason, I hear it differently now than I did back then. I know what you are thinking. Paul, you are not 11 years old anymore. You don't hear things the same as you did when you were a child. Well, duh!
Forget 25 years ago. That is too obvious. Now digest the fact that nothing is ever the same as it was yesterday. Or an hour ago. Or a minute ago. Nothing.
Whether it is sunsets or musical tastes, everything in life is constantly subject to change. And sometimes, you can really shock yourself by opening to the idea of change. Seven years ago, I moved to California and vowed that it would be my home for the remainder of my time on this planet. I was in love with living out west. Growing up in the northeast, I had dreamed of living in California since I was a young boy, and had finally made that dream come true. I seemed tailor-made to live out the rest of my existence in the golden state. But a funny thing happened on the way to forever: I started to get the itch to see other places. I opened to the possibility that there was some other place out there that I could call home. I followed my instincts, started exploring and started, you know...being open again. Long story short, what started as a long vacation in Hawaii became, to my surprise at the time, a permanent move more than two years ago.
Er, hold on. Permanent? Wrong word perhaps.
Anyhow, there are countless shining examples of opening to change that have shaped my adult life. Changes of residence, changes in jobs, changes in friends, changes in whatever. Ultimately, who cares where I used to live, or what I used to do for a living? Big bold moves are easy to point to as turning points in our lives. But it is all just window dressing, no matter how much importance we attach to any of it. As I was getting ready to move to California many years ago, I recall a woman listening to the story of my impending move west. She simply said, "You know Paul, wherever you go, there you are". I think I hated her as soon as those words escaped her lips. And I always hated that quotation. I certainly didn't need to hear it at that moment. I just needed to go. This was my destiny after all. I was going to live in California, and nobody needed to rain on my parade.
Now, looking back after many years, I understand what that awful phrase really means. Wherever you go, there you are. Yes, indeed. No matter where I moved, I was still the same person. It might have been easy to pack my bags and move, but there is never any easy escape from the other baggage.
Wherever I go, I am always subject to change. I am no exception to the laws of the Universe, it turns out. Yet, this is actually a beautiful thing! Change means being able to let my baggage go. I will never be stuck with the same window dressing (unless I want it). Nowadays, opening to change has become even more subtle. It is more about recognizing that I am a work in progress on every level. It is noticing how much easier it is to be present, to live in the flow of life, even if only for a few minutes each day. Change is hopeful, forgiving, and worth celebrating. It creates an open space where anything is possible.
Celebration of change is becoming a way of life. It is worth applauding when I am able to open my heart and mind more each day. I feel like having a party when I can forgive, forget, and really move on. It is no longer necessary to set down in concrete the ideas of who I am, what I believe in, and what I enjoy. Now the party is getting really fun. Somebody pass out the noise makers! The party gets disrupted when I cement in my mind any idea of who anyone else is, however. How about I use Legos instead of concrete? I can always unsnap them, move them around, and build a new 'me' with relative ease. And I can allow everyone else to do the same. Mental Legos. Works for me, and everyone else seems to like it too. Let's get the party started again!
I am learning that I really don't know much, except maybe this: I want to learn. There are days where I feel that I don't know a damn thing about anything. Oddly enough, those days seem to be when I am most inspired. The more I realize that life is about subtraction and not addition, the happier I seem to get. Keeping it simple really works. The more I walk through my fears, drop my defenses, and reach out into the world a little farther, the more I find myself rewarded with a joy that is hard to explain and even harder to shake.
I can never, ever feel like I have learned all there is to learn. This is why we are here, I believe. To share our gifts with one another, and do it with a fluidity. The real excitement of life is not necessarily taking big trips, moving to new places, or finding the perfect job. It can be in something as simple as enjoying an experience I never thought would interest me, simply because I took the risk and opened up to it. It can be listening to a song for the millionth time, and having it strike me in a way it never did before. Or it can be watching a sunset, with no expectation of how it will turn out. It is exciting to just let go and let it life do its thing. It will anyway, no matter what I expect.
Earlier this afternoon, I was listening to my ipod and an old song came on by Duran Duran. I started to remember how the very first 45'' single I ever bought was their song called "The Reflex". Man, I used to love that song. When I hear that song now, well....eh. It's OK. The Duran Duran song that came on today was "New Moon on Monday". I can remember not liking that song when I first heard it many years ago. But now, I sing along loudly at the chorus. I love it! For whatever reason, I hear it differently now than I did back then. I know what you are thinking. Paul, you are not 11 years old anymore. You don't hear things the same as you did when you were a child. Well, duh!
Forget 25 years ago. That is too obvious. Now digest the fact that nothing is ever the same as it was yesterday. Or an hour ago. Or a minute ago. Nothing.
Whether it is sunsets or musical tastes, everything in life is constantly subject to change. And sometimes, you can really shock yourself by opening to the idea of change. Seven years ago, I moved to California and vowed that it would be my home for the remainder of my time on this planet. I was in love with living out west. Growing up in the northeast, I had dreamed of living in California since I was a young boy, and had finally made that dream come true. I seemed tailor-made to live out the rest of my existence in the golden state. But a funny thing happened on the way to forever: I started to get the itch to see other places. I opened to the possibility that there was some other place out there that I could call home. I followed my instincts, started exploring and started, you know...being open again. Long story short, what started as a long vacation in Hawaii became, to my surprise at the time, a permanent move more than two years ago.
Er, hold on. Permanent? Wrong word perhaps.
Anyhow, there are countless shining examples of opening to change that have shaped my adult life. Changes of residence, changes in jobs, changes in friends, changes in whatever. Ultimately, who cares where I used to live, or what I used to do for a living? Big bold moves are easy to point to as turning points in our lives. But it is all just window dressing, no matter how much importance we attach to any of it. As I was getting ready to move to California many years ago, I recall a woman listening to the story of my impending move west. She simply said, "You know Paul, wherever you go, there you are". I think I hated her as soon as those words escaped her lips. And I always hated that quotation. I certainly didn't need to hear it at that moment. I just needed to go. This was my destiny after all. I was going to live in California, and nobody needed to rain on my parade.
Now, looking back after many years, I understand what that awful phrase really means. Wherever you go, there you are. Yes, indeed. No matter where I moved, I was still the same person. It might have been easy to pack my bags and move, but there is never any easy escape from the other baggage.
Wherever I go, I am always subject to change. I am no exception to the laws of the Universe, it turns out. Yet, this is actually a beautiful thing! Change means being able to let my baggage go. I will never be stuck with the same window dressing (unless I want it). Nowadays, opening to change has become even more subtle. It is more about recognizing that I am a work in progress on every level. It is noticing how much easier it is to be present, to live in the flow of life, even if only for a few minutes each day. Change is hopeful, forgiving, and worth celebrating. It creates an open space where anything is possible.
Celebration of change is becoming a way of life. It is worth applauding when I am able to open my heart and mind more each day. I feel like having a party when I can forgive, forget, and really move on. It is no longer necessary to set down in concrete the ideas of who I am, what I believe in, and what I enjoy. Now the party is getting really fun. Somebody pass out the noise makers! The party gets disrupted when I cement in my mind any idea of who anyone else is, however. How about I use Legos instead of concrete? I can always unsnap them, move them around, and build a new 'me' with relative ease. And I can allow everyone else to do the same. Mental Legos. Works for me, and everyone else seems to like it too. Let's get the party started again!
I am learning that I really don't know much, except maybe this: I want to learn. There are days where I feel that I don't know a damn thing about anything. Oddly enough, those days seem to be when I am most inspired. The more I realize that life is about subtraction and not addition, the happier I seem to get. Keeping it simple really works. The more I walk through my fears, drop my defenses, and reach out into the world a little farther, the more I find myself rewarded with a joy that is hard to explain and even harder to shake.
I can never, ever feel like I have learned all there is to learn. This is why we are here, I believe. To share our gifts with one another, and do it with a fluidity. The real excitement of life is not necessarily taking big trips, moving to new places, or finding the perfect job. It can be in something as simple as enjoying an experience I never thought would interest me, simply because I took the risk and opened up to it. It can be listening to a song for the millionth time, and having it strike me in a way it never did before. Or it can be watching a sunset, with no expectation of how it will turn out. It is exciting to just let go and let it life do its thing. It will anyway, no matter what I expect.
Comments
Change is wonderful and always teaching us where we are going on the deepest levels of our soul's growth.
Great post Paul!