Facing Change

When I was growing up I used to hear: “There are two things you can be certain of:  Death and Taxes.” I gotta change that expression~ change being the operative word. Yes, there are always “taxes”. Call it tithing, and remember it is impossible to run a community, a town, a state, a government without (hopefully) equal and equitable support from all of us. That said, currently taxes as we think of them are as uncertain as the weather around the Great Lakes.

What of Death? The discussions are endless including the potential of taking it all with you. What ever you think will be the next step after shedding the body, if you shed it, are endless as well. The one true thing: Change.

If there was one thing Grandmother knew, it was when change was coming. Sometimes it was simply a change in the weather – forecast by the clouds or the way the chickens acted. Sometimes it was adjusting and changing with the seasons. Sometimes it was listening, sensing and feeling change on the wind. Sometimes it was packing light and moving on.

I have been observing my own flow with life lately and observing the differences in how I am doing things. Looking at the most recent holidays there has been a huge break with tradition. Christmas was celebrated with sacredness and joy, community and food just as always. However there was no emphasis on presents, decorations, or shopping. How freeing is that!

My recent birthday was another example of this change. Parties? Yes!! Presents, cards, phone calls, and any number of other ‘have-to’s’ were gone! In fact I didn’t even think about the “lack” until a week or so later. Some of this was due to good old email and facebook where I received so many wonderful birthday wishes from here and there and every where! So there was no sense of being forgotten, rather there was a hightened sense of being celebrated.

It seems time to loosen our schedules and rituals to include more possibility of change and diversity. It is time to release things that weigh us down and deaden us inside. The burden of these things is too great during such a time of change. It’s time to create what is new and alive. Hardest of all, it is time to allow ourselves to lay fallow, not anticipate the coming crops, and wait for Spring.

The Universe is in a state of constant change and becoming. We would do well to emulate this in our own lives as there is nothing more painful to our Spirit than to hold on tightly to what is passing away. To end with a conundrum, a paradox: Everything changes; everything is the same.