Impermanence

Childhood photos, the fleeting impression of a dream, flowers wilting on the kitchen table – reminders of impermanence are everywhere. Nevermind the grave reminders of the cemetery I walk through a few times each week. Changes, transitions and endings are the rules, not the exceptions. Though Western culture is hellbent on selling us eternal youth and everlasting love, our lived experiences reveal a different reality.

And yet, in the rhythm of my everyday life, as a relatively young and healthy person, I’m all too quick to lose sight of how changes, transitions and endings are personally relevant to my life. Somehow, it can be hard for me to connect the dots. I have a feeling I’m not alone in that. I wonder sometimes if asking ourselves to build a life, to commit to the things and people we love in this world requires us to forget, in some sense, the tenuous nature of existence?