One characteristic of the universal truths is impermanence and uncertainty. Nothing in our lives lasts or stays the same for very long. Everything is changing all the time. If we want things that are always changing to stay the same, we will get disappointed. Trying to hold onto “how it was” will only create suffering and disappointment, because life is a river and everything changes.
So when we start to see that things are impermanent, that attachment causes pain – we can also sense that there must be some other way. And there is. It is the ability to flow with the changes, to see everything as a process of change, to relax with uncertainty. Meditation teaches us how to let go, how to stay centered in the midst of change. Once we see that everything is impermanent and ungraspable and that we create a huge amount of suffering if we are attached to things staying the same, we realise that relaxing and letting go is a wiser way to live. We realise that gain and loss, praise and blame, pain and pleasure are part of the dance of life, given to each of us, born into our human body.
When we sit in meditation, we can directly feel the state of our body, the tensions we carry, the level of tiredness or energy. Sometimes being in our body feels good, and sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it is quiet, and sometimes it is restless. Through meditation, we come to realise our heart has the capacity to be present for every experience, pleasant or unpleasant, to live more fully and freely where we are. When we realise that everything passes away, not only the good things but the painful things as well, we find a composure in their midst.
In meditation, we discover a natural, open-hearted, and non-judgemental awareness of our body and feelings. We begin to see the world as it really is. In the midst of it all, we begin to see how we can relate to all of it with compassion, kindness, and wisdom.
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