....impermanence

Yogis,
A tree grows on a small island close to the river’s edge. She is the first thing I notice each time I arrive and over the years I have taken quite a few pictures of her. It’s hard not to. She looks different every time…… and beautiful.

On this bright crisp November morning, photographing her yet again, I realized she is one of my teachers on the only thing we can depend on. 

Impermanence.

I’m reading about the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the bardo. There are many definitions and interpretations, but in simple terms the bardo is a state of transition. Everything that exists was created, goes through a period of change, and will die. Nowhere is there any hint of a period where change stands still. Not even for the length of time it takes you to take your next breath.

A couple weeks ago my tree’s dried leaves rustled in the breeze. This morning she sat bare.

I watch an oak leaf float by. This leaf which grew from a bud, performed its job of drawing nourishment from the sun, clothed itself in a myriad of colors and finally chose to let go, was once only an idea tucked in a tightly closed acorn.

The sky above me comes to life as a massive flock of birds swoop in. A shadow is cast and the air fills with their chatter as they make preparations to leave. Since arriving in spring, nests have been built, babies born, and bugs eaten. They aren’t the same birds they were when they came. Where will they go?

The light shifts. The water changes color.

Not everyone wants to consider the bardo since we, as an integral part of nature, exist within it. Everything we do is a bardo. I began a run this morning, experienced the above and upon arriving home it ended. It no longer exists. If I do the run tomorrow it is impossible for it to be the same. I now sit within the bardo of writing my Sunday note. It too will end.

My existence is a bardo.

The more I notice this though, in nature and in my own moment to moment living, the more comfortable I become with the beauty of change. Is there a chance I can loosen my grip on that need to create a sense of control over the truly uncontrollable?

Wouldn’t trusting life be incredibly freeing?

I am changing,
SARAH