Tag: impermanence

Life’s impermanence

Preparing the move of my parents to a care home during the past months brought up sad feelings for me, very suddenly. The time has come to say farewell to their apartment they have been living in for 12 years and to the life they were used to.

It’s a journey coming to an end, and it’s also a first farewell we children have to say, before the final chapter approaches.

It is sad. Sifting through all their belongings, deciding what they will take with them, what my brother and I will take with us, and what will be given to charity is after all, a hard step. 

Right now it takes place only in my mind: trying to remember what’s hidden in their cupboards and drawers, and where I need to watch out for possible surprises once I will be on site in a few weeks’ time and actually doing it. 

As usual I want to preempt getting stuck in the process by something that I have not thought about up front, because I want all to go well. It is a tight schedule for both my brother and I – him living in a different city than my parents and me living in a different country.

All their possessions – many of which are very dear to them – tell a lot about their life together, about their hopes, aspirations, love and struggles. It’s what remains of a life.

It is not just about the complex organization of their move, it has a very emotional component.

I want to give them the chance to be happy in that new place, but I am also aware that it will be quite a shock for them. The loss of control and full dependency on others is the reason why a lot of people who move to a care home facility die within the first 2 months.

Many objects they were used to and saw daily will no longer be around them. That goes for crockery and cutlery, their wineglasses, their bedlinen, their towels. They will be dependent upon others to wash their laundry, clean their space, give them food, or even a spoon for a tea bag. They will not brew their own coffee anymore in the morning.

On the other hand, of course, a weight is taken off their shoulders. They have not been able to cope anymore with daily life for a long time and struggled a lot. But there is a downside to everything and I know it will not be easy for them to adjust.

I want them to be happy, but all I can do is trying to soften their landing in that new reality. By being mindful and attentive, and making sure they can feel comfortable and have sufficient objects around them which serve as a reminder of past times. Like books, plants, photos, paintings, placemats or decoration. It’s often the small and simple things that bring joy.

I also need to acknowledge their feelings and deal with difficult situations that might arise, especially with my mom. My dad is easier to handle: he is pragmatic and accepts his dwindling capabilities – physically and mentally. But my mom is fighting reality as always, so for her it will be hard. Deep down she knows it is the best solution and she even said so in her more clearer moments, however, even her dementia will not let her ignore the obvious: that it is a big change.

Personally, I need to deal with these aspects as well: the factual side which means intensely project managing a lot of stuff, but also handling the emotional impact it has on me. It is hard. And I have no guarantees that my parents will be happy. I can only strive to enable it as much as possible.

Have a little faith
You’ll see it’s alright
Take a little time to breathe
The tide turns eventually
It comes in, it goes out
If you’re ever in doubt
Just have a little faith.

(Have a little faith - Son Mieux)

Going through this process turned out to be a reminder of the nature of impermanence. It reminds me of my own mortality, and that we cannot take any worldly belongings with us when it’s time to go.

My parents will lose a place they loved, but I realized that I will lose that place, too. The sadness I felt surprised me a bit at first because I have no strong connection to that place, but this feeling arising showed me what lies underneath and what I need to acknowledge for my own life.

And it made me question all the stuff that I have accumulated in my own apartment, and whether it is about time to gradually let go of more of it, bit by bit. Doing it feels liberating.

We come empty-handed into this world, and that’s how we will leave it. All of us. It’s important to have no illusions about it.

This is what the 5 remembrances mean in Buddhism:

We are all of the nature to grow old, to get sick and to die. There is no escaping that.

We will lose the people and the places that we love.

The only things we can take with us are our actions.

(Plum village podcast episode 82)

Even though these words might feel like a threat hanging in the air, it actually helps to focus on the present moment which needs our full and undivided attention. In the present we need to fully show up. Whatever we do, whoever we are with. 

Enjoy and appreciate what is in front of me and be grateful for it. The present moment turns into the past in the blink of an eye.

Everything in life is subject to change. That is just reality. That change is not meant to haunt or to taunt us. Its purpose is to teach us every day to be grateful and focus on what is really important in life.

Whatever I am currently working on, all the plans I make – which importance will it have in 50 years from now? Impermanence puts things into perspective when my head starts spinning.

Resorting to meditation whenever I felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the current situation, helped me. That’s why I keep on doing it as often as I can, striving for a daily routine. Like this morning when I got up with my head full of racing thoughts, then decided to stop myself in my tracks by sitting still and focusing on my breathing for 15 minutes. It brought me calm and I felt better equipped to start my day.

Of course, all my planning is a mere attempt to gain as much control as possible over the future. 

It does not mean everything is actually going to work out as I want to. But my worries might also not come true. 

The thoughts I started repeating to myself: it will work out eventually. There is no reason why all things should go wrong. And when issues come up then I will manage them. It’s not the end of the world. 

Some food for thought:

What do you do when your head starts spinning?

What stops you from worrying too much?

How can you be more present in your daily life?

Becoming ourselves

We shall not stay attached to our views, and we certainly cannot do it anyway in the long run, simply because we do change. And so do our views. We learn so much more during our lifetime, and that keeps on changing us. 

This Buddhist concept of impermanence is actually something very positive, because it offers development, growth, using our potential. It offers new experiences, new pathways to be walked on, new opportunities for happiness.

It might sound sad at first, that everything disappears eventually and nothing stays the same. We are clinging to notions or things, often desperately, even if they are harmful for ourselves, because we don’t want to let go. Change scares us. We do not know what the future will bring, and we want to eliminate the insecurity which we fear might throw us off balance. It feels easier to stay within our comfort zone. But isn’t the potential for growth outside of it?

Do not think for one minute that because you are who you are, you cannot be who you imagine yourself to be. (Jedidah Isler)

We never stop evolving. And it is never done with a one time learning. 

Think about when you do a training or learn something new. If you do not apply it in your daily life, you lose it. It slips away to the back of your mind and you cannot even remember a lot of it after some time. It needs constant practice to become part of your daily routine – work-wise or in private life.

When we learn and evolve we take a step forward. We might experience setbacks, but we need to get up and continue. And take another step. Re-iterate the learning process. There is constant repetition. If we are open for it. Even though it is often painful, exhausting and frustrating.

Having a moment of enlightenment about ourselves, especially about changing our direction in life, does not mean this is a one time event, once and for all, and then we can just go on into this new direction we found, and everything will be fine. 

To be very clear: it is just one step on our continuous journey. We change direction, we change ourselves and how we see life and feel about ourselves, what we do and how we want to live. Nothing remains the same.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. (Lao Tzu)

It took me some time to acknowledge that the difficulties we inevitably experience in life are not something being thrown at us from an evil force to make us miserable. These are actually lessons and exercises we need to go through. And they come in phases. This is just life with all its colours.

Instead of shying away I know now that I actively need to embrace my struggles as an opportunity to learn, change and question my approach in life over and over again, and then transform myself. Clinging to the past might feel comfortable, but I won’t get back what has already passed.

The element of fear is always present, of course. Fear of not managing the change well, of failure with ensuing despair and unhappiness. The fear of the unknown essentially, of insecurity is always lurking in the background.

The usual question “What is the right decision?” comes into my mind every time, however there is not a real right or wrong, it is just a turn into a different direction opening a door to a new world. I also recognize this very strong human desire in me, to apply a final fix and then be happy and have everything sorted in my life. It sometimes feels scary to realize that I am on my own with the decisions I take.

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

What is really important though, is not to beat ourselves up for going through a difficult time again when we already had a similar experience in the past and learnt out of it. We applied our knowledge at that time well and evolved. Now something is coming back – not exactly to haunt us – but to show us that we are not done yet (which we never are), or that something else has changed in the meantime forcing us to face it now.  

My recurring theme in that regard is my strong discipline that I often use to soldier on in a stress situation, ignoring my body’s clear signals for rest, until realizing that my re-surfacing health problems are already a cry for help and that I need to stop, listen and slow down. And that I need to change direction in my life.

Becoming aware of the situation faster and reaching out for help and resources quickly is already a good sign of applied learning from past experience. With time, I got to know myself and the traps I tend to fall into much better.

The package everyone of us carries around – based on how we grew up and our past life experiences – is heavy and does not disappear. The habits we developed are a result of this package, and that’s why the saying “old habits die hard”, describes it so aptly: we cannot get fully rid of it. But we can learn to manage it through a lot of self-awareness and kind reflection, and the will to move forward and eventually beyond it.

While accepting – very importantly – that we are only human, thus never expecting perfection. Being too hard on ourselves for something that we continue to carry around, is not going to do us any good, but is actually a self-created obstacle.

Life is a journey, not a destination. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

So, what to do? Take stock, get clarity about what is going on and why, how we feel about it, and then decide what to do next. We feel in our heart that something is clearly off, and it’s important to find our peace and restore our inner balance.

Easier said than done, as it is of course, far more complex than solving a school assignment or finding a good solution for a work task. That’s why talking to a counselor in such a situation helps a lot, because these professionals can bring our inner thoughts to the surface, helping us to gain valuable insights. 

My experience with such conversations has been thoroughly positive, and I did it more than once in my life. The feedback received about my thoughts and attitudes brought me more clarity because it held a mirror to my face. Whatever insights I gained was never anything that I had not been aware of before deep down within me, but I actually needed to hear it from another person.

And don’t forget: it takes as long as it takes. Impatience is not gonna help. 

It is indeed a journey.