Change can be defined as:  “to become different”, “substitute or replace something”, “pass from one state to another”.  We are in a state of constant change from the weather patterns and seasons to daily changes in our life and life events, to new family members, members leaving our family, folks moving, to our emotions continually shifting from happy to sad to frustration to fear to excitement….

As we move through life there are continual changes taking place giving us the opportunity to work through whatever we need.  In some cases we avoid changes that we know we need to make to in order to move forward.  We sometimes deny ourselves the permission to make needed changes.   Other times we build our character in some way as we struggle through our environment making internal shifts that others do not realize.

Sometimes a catalyst is needed to make a necessary change that will be helpful for us.  Many years ago, I was in a verbally and somewhat physically abusive relationship with someone of whom I’d moved across the country with to an unknown place.  I’d given up my family, my friends, my community for life with a man that I really did not know.  On the surface, he was jovial and I felt good being around him, but once I saw his darker side, the fear set inside of me and only a miracle could occur for needed change to happen.  Luckily, this bad dream in my life was for only a short time.  Ironically, my miracle, and catalyst for change, was going away to war.

Change is inevitable with all things.  How we unite with change varies amongst us.  Some of us fight change, others of us move through easily, then still others of us, fight and flow simultaneously.

A few chapters after going to war, then protesting war and holding peace vigils, I spent a week visiting a group of Tibetan Monks who were in, Salem, OR, the town I lived in at the time.  They were on a US tour teaching through a creative art process.  In that public building in Salem, they created a beautifully colored sand mandala for all to view.  Three or four of them at a time used their fingers and thumbs to lift and place small amounts of sand in blues, greens, reds, yellows, pinks, oranges and purples, gracefully and carefully working each and every finite detail on the large 10-feet in diameter art canvas for a full five days, 7am-5pm daily.  I rode my bike over each day to watch those red and gold clothed jolly men smiling and working.  I had many conversations with one monk in particular; he had many questions for me about our ‘unusual culture’ in the US.  He spoke a lot about change and its certainty.  Once the mandala was finished they stood looking at their creation for only a short time, maybe 30 minutes.  Next, a team of them collected the sand into containers using small hand brooms, which lasted all of five minutes.  They held a ceremony and released the sand out into the local flowing river to be washed away, followed by meditation on impermanence.  Later that night, they shared an evening of chanting performance, then moved onto another city to begin this artful process again.

We have choice in the matter to transform or to remain the same, to praise or complain, to move or to stay.  We never quite know the changes we will experience throughout our time in life, but one thing is without doubt, change will continue and we will adjust with or without ease and flow.