We came here to change. Usually we think of it in loftier terms such as becoming enlightened, growing, transcending, learning our lessons, even completing our karma so we can get off the wheel of Samsara. Or we think of it as the inevitable loss of things due to age, illness, and our body’s expiration date. Unless we’re thinking about it as traumatic such as when forces beyond our control force change upon us like a train wreck or a nature disaster.
We have an uneasy relationship with change. We like it when it helps us reach a goal, when it is methodical, forseeable, and even somewhat controllable. We ignore it when it’s organic because it’s too incremental and quiet to notice until something brings it to our attention like wrinkles or an anniversary. We attempt to avoid it when it’s inconvenient or scary and we immediately hand over any responsibility or coöperation we might have with it when it’s out of our control and headed our way.
But we came here to change. We came here to participate in life, to allow the current of events and co-creation mold us, cause accretions and divots, create our unique new form like a coral reef building itself through the everyday process of living. Instead of ignoring change, we should celebrate it. We should welcome it within ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us. Endings and beginnings, in betweens and in-the-middle-of’s are happening all around us and to us even now. Perhaps if we changed the way we looked at things a bit, change wouldn’t sneak up on us quite so fast or impact us quite so hard. Maybe then there would be less lessons to learn and more joy filled experiences of becoming.