Life is Change

By Sharka Waite

“May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow wipe away the pain you find in your yesterday”- Unknown

Life is change. Change is life. Although at times it may seem as if everything stood still and nothing was happening, other times we may have been overwhelmed by the amount of changes all seemingly happening at once. Often times changes bring a lot of challenges, especially if they’re undesirable ones. We tend to stay tucked in our comfort zone, avoiding changes at all costs. Out of fear for our heart to be broken, scarred, leaving it in an irreparable state. However, those times usually offer an opportunity for growth, making our heart fuller, stronger, perhaps even more open than ever before. I have experienced many heartbreaking losses and unwelcome changes, and would be the first one to admit that in those moments I often retreat to my much treasured solitude, allowing myself to break down without anybody knowing and then reluctantly begin, one by one, to pick my pieces again. I usually don’t celebrate those changes at first, but then somehow end up feeling more complete with better understanding, after having gone through them. Sometimes they become symbols of sweet, new beginnings; a transformation of the Soul.

A couple of weeks ago, after the unfortunate passing of the one and only Dr. Maya Angelou, I was working on a new blog post for my website honoring her character, accomplishments, and teachings. I picked one of her poems to be the feature of the post. All went well until one typo needed to be changed. As I highlighted the appropriate area and clicked delete, all went blank. I didn’t panic at the moment – yet – as I knew I could still use the old-time saver “command + z” to bring the content back to life, quickly save and publish. No such luck! I called technical support and they informed me  that there’s no way to save those changes, and basically told me to accept it and kiss my 90+ posts good-bye. I panicked then! I wanted to cry! I couldn’t believe one click deleted my entire blog page. Although this surely wasn’t a life altering loss, I still needed enough time to grieve it and refocus. So, with my disbelief, I’ve abandoned my website for a few weeks to think of my next step, and the step is NOW. I’m starting a new blog page from the very beginning again with this being the first post to welcome back all those who have enjoyed reading my poems and posts and, of course, invite new friends onto the journey.

As I write this new beginning, still slightly irritated with the loss of my material, I can’t help but think of the great lessons of impermanence from Buddhist monks, and slowly the death of my blog becomes a non-issue anymore. They celebrate impermanence and changes with intention, grace, positive energy and hard work; just look at their patience, focus, and precision in peaceful action as they construct their elaborate and magnificent mandalas full of detail, which take number of days to finish. It’s an intricate piece of art only to be wiped away at the end of the festivities.

Sometimes we are up and sometimes we are down but, as long as we are in motion, we’ll eventually find our way again; with new perspective constructing a new piece of art, sealing our scars and hopefully opening our hearts to the light of life once more.

Welcome to my site and enjoy my “new again” posts in this impermanent world. :o)

Peace & Joy,

SW

Kalachakra Sand Mandala

The Complete Kalachakra Sand Mandala