Change is Stability

Life is change. Change is stability. ~Zen Proverb

Now, that’s something I hadn’t thought of. Change as stability. Hmmm…

Change — constantly shifting and evolving — as something that reflects how life really goes down. And if you’re not changing somehow, somewhere in your life, you’re not stable. THAT is interesting.

We think of change as the opposite of stability — something we must experience in life, sometimes even welcome, but mostly we all exhale the biggest sigh of relief when it’s over. Thank God, that shit is ovah. Now, I can go back to living la vie normale, merci beaucoup. Except it’s not la vie normale because as we were in the midst of it all, things changed. What we’d relied upon as stable and unchanging is no longer the steady thing, and we feel disoriented, confused…and sometimes deeply relieved.

Full disclosure: I had a supremely shitty day today. Actually, my entire past week was a shit show…most of it fucking sucked. I’m still wrung out from the emotional roller coaster, which means my take on things may or may not be accurate (ask me how many fucks I give on that front — yep, ZERO). It also doesn’t help that I’ve been coughing off and on for almost a month. So, changing. Feeling unstable. Not at peace with any of it at’all. But, according to Zen philosophy, change bring stability. I don’t see how in this moment, but I’m going to do my best to believe it, to choose that take, and be open to what happens.

Why not? Life is change. Change is stability. And I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing change more as a harbinger of steadiness and ease in life, and less something to endure as we wait for a normal to come back that never makes it back to our front doorstep.