Embracing Change

Although most people tend to think of impermanence in a negative light, there are definitely positive aspects to things not lasting forever.

As anyone who has been through the healing process can attest, knowing that the pain or physical suffering you are enduring in the moment is not eternal is a very helpful realization.

Along those lines, the sage wisdom of, “This too shall pass” recognizes that both suffering and ecstasy are temporary states that are sure to change.

In addition to understanding that there are also positive aspects to the phenomenon of impermanence, there are also many practical benefits to being someone who embraces the evanescence of the way things currently are.

This ability demonstrates the ultimate form of sanity, and leads to increased opportunities in business and relationships. After all, the sooner you are able to recognize that things are no longer what they used to be, the sooner you can respond and seize the moment in the new paradigm.

There are many applications to embracing impermanence in the business world. In fact, in a competitive marketplace, those who excel at being able to accept and even anticipate changes tend to be the most successful.

While most of their competitors will be complaining that things aren’t the way they used to be or will find themselves stuck in doing the same tried-and-true routines, the innovators and entrepreneurs will always be looking for ways to adapt and adjust to the cutting-edge of their customer’s wants and needs.

In many ways, comfort can act as the enemy of progress. We get used to things being the way they are and we fall into patterns that become habitual.

It gives our ego a sense of permanence and we fall into a form of sleepwalking through our lives. We keep having the same issues and repeating the same relationships over and over again because we’re basically living in a kind of “Groundhog’s Day” version of existence..

Relationships can also fall prey to a stagnation that comes from becoming too predictable and stuck in our ways. While it may be wonderful to know someone so well that you can finish each other’s sentences, things can get into a rut if both individuals in a partnership become too invested in keeping things the same. Deeply ingrained in our culture, there is this romantic notion that once we meet our soulmate things will end happily ever after and it will all be just one blissful moment after another. And yet, anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows that this is not how love works.

Those who are more accepting of change are much better prepared to deal with the ever-evolving nature of an intimate relationship. They don’t expect things to always be comfortable or for things to always be the same. They learn to enjoy the excitement and passion of the beginning stages of romance in equal measure to the more stable, nitty-gritty parts of making things work day-in and day-out. They also don’t expect their partner to remain confined to a set of preconceived ideas about who they are. Instead, they embrace the journey that their partner is on, supporting them as they continue to evolve and grow as a person.

Perhaps more than anything, coming to terms with impermanence opens us up to fully appreciate the wonder and joy of this moment. If we are able to live from a place where we recognize that our lives our finite, we can then put everything into perspective. We avoid falling into patterns that embody an illusion that we will live forever. This cognizance that we are temporary beings opens up the door to appreciating everything that happens to us and seizing the opportunities that change offers.