Impermanence Week 3

"All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering."

-Budda

One of the more difficult concepts to grasp is that even the so-called “good times” are not permanent. We may say I wish this moment would last forever, but that is impossible. If we stop to consider all aspects of this, that if our lives were only filled with the best of times, would we even know that we were experiencing them? We would have nothing to compare it to. Challenging events in our lives can be viewed as why is this happening to me, or why is this happening for me? What can I learn, how can I grow? For me this is the wisdom the Budda speaks about in this quote.

This week the practice will be to put this concept into action, in a small step. The idea of releasing just a little bit will be the practice. How do we do this? Start with the body, do a simple body scan from your feet to your head, just noticing where it is you hold tension. Then go back to that spot, maybe move it gently, or massage lightly, allowing release. Practice the body scan once more and notice if the tension is still there. If it is, gently massage, slowly move, this time using your breath as you perform these actions, slowly breathing in and out. Work through the tension with the gift of time and the consistency of repetition. By giving the body permission to release we can break out of the pattern of contraction and holding on to stress. 

Practice this week daily. Next week we will focus on habitual patterns of the mind and how the same process can achieve acceptance and release. The proposition is that we may begin to see the value of impermanence instead of fighting against it.