Dust in the Wind

While driving in the car, Kansas’ 1970s song Dust in the Wind played. I thought, if we are merely dust in the wind, why place importance on Openings? – Ann

Dust in the Wind

All my dreams

Pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind

 Why do Openings matter if our time on earth is fleeting? Because we are here. This is what we have – the present moment. We are on a journey, however fleeting, during our time on earth. What’s the point of whittling our time away? We have an opportunity to grow while we are here. Life is more interesting as we learn, face challenges and strengthen. And, the world needs our best selves.

Openings are real and are here for a reason. They assist us on our journeys and help us move forward. They are custom-made for each of us. They move and change us. We progress because of them. They make our lives interesting. Although we may not know the full meaning of Openings in our lives, we recognize them, see their function and make our choices whether to enter them.

Openings have substance. When we encounter Openings, we are aware of their presence and often are aware of what they are asking of us. They present opportunities for growth. Many of us have entered Openings and have seen the movement and growth that they make possible.

Impermanence

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

We often don’t embrace loss and change, but they are common parts of life. We live with them – no choice but to. Openings are real and can help us deal with loss and change. They often ask a lot of us. When we acknowledge them, they ask for our discernment, power, courage, hope and commitment.

Buddhists teach that embracing impermanence involves recognizing and accepting that all things in life are temporary. Impermanence encourages us to live fully in the present moment for our own resilience and peace of mind. Can we live with the impermanence of life? Take each Opening as it comes and deal with it in the present moment, not knowing what the future will bring?

We can. It takes courage, but we can. The impermanence of life also means that bad times do not go on forever. Things can always get better. We become wiser with time and experience. New Openings will come. Life will change. We will change, as will the circumstances around us.

Don’t Hang On

Now don’t hang on

Thinking of anything as permanent is illusion. It does not serve us. Our society tries hard to protect us from the impacts of change and often creates a false sense of security. A relationship we thought would last forever, ends. Our youth begins to fade. A wildfire destroys a home we loved. Conflict shakes everything up. Radical change alters the environment we live in.

We cannot count on the improvement an Opening offers as permanent. Its relevance to our world may be fleeting. That’s okay. It appears to help us grow in the moment. We have other places to go in the future. Openings change as we do. They are tools, not permanent states of being. Openings move us along and move along themselves. It is a pipeline, designed to help us grow.

It may be tempting to deny the permanent presence of change. Do we really want life to be unchanging? It could get boring. It almost seems impossible that the people, environment and world around us will never change. Getting to a place of acceptance that we can’t hang on to life as it is now ,may actually bring us peace, rather than anxiety. Acceptance of change will make our lives better.