Yesterday, I was in the Sanctuary recording my practices for the October 31 day meditation challenge (if you’ve never taken part, make sure to keep an eye out for it). One of the topics that I was given was ‘embracing change’. I had been teaching on the Art of Rest all day and delivering various meditations. By the time I sat down in front of the camera, I was shattered.
As the camera started rolling, I began with reading the parable of the farmer. The parable describes a farmer who goes through a sequence of events in which he loses his horse, then gets it back again (along with others horses), his son then breaks his leg riding the horse, finally the son avoids war due to the broken leg, etc… At each turn, his neighbours declare ‘what good luck, what bad luck, what good luck…’ To all, he replies simply with ‘maybe’.
The message is that life is always changing and if we can face change with a degree of equanimity, we have freedom. Ultimately, this is the spiritual path.
Funnily enough, as I was speaking, I lost my words and had to stop. At which time, the cameraman took the opportunity to tell me that the parable of the farmer was already used by a Zen monk who had come in the day before to be filmed. The two of us laughed about it- what good luck, what bad luck, for me! I realised that I would have to do something different- I would have to embrace change! Despite my weariness from the day, I was able to pull something out of the bag, so to speak.
Interestingly, after we had finished, the cameraman and I spoke off camera about what embracing change means to each of us personally. This is where I felt my heart move. The cameraman mentioned that he had heard that I had lost my husband a few years ago. To which I quietly responded by telling him that Graeme’s death is what truly taught me about change.
When Graeme was dying, the only thing we had together was ‘now’. And something happens when the truth hits you that the only thing you have is ‘now’…when you can’t go back. You have no idea if there is a future, and these moments are the only guarantee. This intense sense of gratitude and a tuning in to what ‘now’ is gets amplified.
But we can get caught up in the mourning of what was, and the remembering. We also can get caught up in the wanting to try to control what’s coming down the line, because it’s uncertain. And if we can put some sense of control onto that uncertainty, then we feel better. But the reality is that everything is changing. Nothing stays the same. So, really and truly, whether we are faced with a terminal diagnosis or not, the only thing we have is ‘now’.
And when that’s all we have, when you can deeply feel and embody that sense of this is going to be gone and who knows what’s coming, then there is an opportunity and almost a call to savour and drink it in. And if you can do this, it is absolutely magnificent. It’s like putting special glasses on that allows you to see how things really are, which is luminous.
As Graeme and I lived through those days, Thich Nhat Hanh’s words became especially poignant when he famously said, “waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me”.- what a joy this life is!
So embracing change is not just about equanimity, it is an invitation to open up to the beauty and wonder and miracle of each unfolding moment. It’s an invitation to feel fully alive, even if it is just for ‘now’.
I wish I said that in the recording 😉
-Jane
Click below to download and listen to a meditation on embracing change:
My Silent Place 
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