Dealing With Change

Change is inevitable. 
Change is the only thing in life that is guaranteed.
Change is often difficult to deal with.

 I will be the 1st one to say that change has never been easy for me. I like to get things going and them have them keep going, sort of cruising down the road of life, all comfortable and familiar. 

 I seem to be particularly sensitive to change. I don't deal well with it. Like when a restaurant I frequent changes their menu and my favorite dish is no longer available. Or something I use a lot wears out or breaks, and there is no exact replacement available. Or when people or pets die, and they are no longer a part of my physical life. This can really throw me into chaos.

 But I know from my studies of Buddhism that impermanence is the natural order of things. And grasping or clinging to what was, will only cause you suffering.

But
Damn
It's
Hard

 I've had a lot of major life changes lately and they have hit me hard. Sometimes I feel stopped in my tracks. But I know that change just is. And there is nothing that I can do about it. My spirit endeavors to let go, while my mind clings onto what is now lost. Change is never easy.

 But I know that change is a must, a continual must. So I reluctantly accept change and move on. 

 Even my art changes. Things I have been doing for a while, no longer have that spark they once had. New ideas show up and I run with them. But the change in my art is often gradual, more an evolution that I don't really notice. Once in a while a major, disruptive change occurs that turns me into a completely different direction. It can be shocking, disturbing, and confusing. But I ride it out and see where it all leads to.

 And change can be a catalyst. When things become routine or stuck, change is usually what is needed to get things moving again. It can be inspiring, challenging, and exhilarating all at once. It can be like the rocket fuel needed to shoot us into a higher orbit. 

 I usually take some time to mourn the change, but then jump back into my art with full force, knowing that it will take me where I need to be.

 ~ MB

Ars longa,
vita brevis,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile. 
- Hippocrates

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