We all think about change; it's the nature of existence. Even this moment is transient. We can only be present in the split second it exists. There’s no possibility of anchoring or replicating “now,” yet we still long for the comfort of predictability. Authors and philosophers contemplate change. Here are some of their perspectives, plus my own musings about embracing what is forever elusive.
"Change is difficult. Maybe this is because life is change. So stability, which is the absence of that change, is by its very nature temporary.” — WAYNE LIQUORMAN
“Transience makes a ghost out of each experience. There was never a dawn that did not drop down into noon, never a noon which did not fade into evening, and never an evening that did not get buried in the graveyard of the night.” — JOHN O’DONOHUE
There are so many aspects to change. Can we be agile enough to flow with change as it surprises us? Can we trust that it includes the strength to cope with what unfolds?
“There are two kinds of people. One kind you can just tell by looking at them at what point they congealed into their final selves. It might be a very nice self, but you know you can expect no more surprises from it. Whereas the other kind are fluid – they keep moving forward and making new trysts with life, and the motion keeps them thriving.” — GAIL GOODWIN
“For the past thirty-three years, I’ve looked in the mirror and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do? And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I need a change.” – STEVE JOBS
Change is a necessity. All of life is evolving. In an average lifetime human skin completely replaces itself 900 times but not in exactly the same way. The adage, "The more things change, the more they remain the same," may be comforting, but is it true?
“Life is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself. It is infinitely beyond your or my obtuse theories about it.” – BORIS PASTERNAK
The minute we accept something as the “new normal” we’re expecting change to slow down so we can catch up. But no matter how visibly or invisibly change appears to be happening, everything — including we ourselves — is continuously shifting. We like to feel in control. Change makes that impossible.
Welcoming change is our mandate. The only option is resisting the inevitable.
Sources: Never Mind, Change Happens.