I’ve been in a funk this last week or so and I think it’s weather related. I wasn’t ready for summer to end and I’m struggling to come to terms with Autumn being upon us. Chatting to my parents in the UK it’s the opposite, they’re coming out of winter and delighted at the sight of spring flowers and the nights drawing out. It can be a bit like that with change.
The law of nature is that every season we have also ends, the seasons change regardless of what we try to do otherwise. Now I can either travel around the world and have a permanent summer (I’ve thought about it!) or I can accept that everything changes and this is the law of nature.
Acceptance of chance is one of the most empowering things we can do because it allows us to move beyond it. We don’t have to like it just know we can not change it. When we understand that everything we have whether positive (summer) or negative (winter) will change. The good and bad come into our lives regardless of who we are and what we’d prefer. The good news is that if times are tough right now, that’ll pass. Obviously this works the other way around too. If it’s sunny in your life right now, enjoy it, that too will change.
Learning to go with the flow of change and accept the present moment regardless of if I like it or not has been key in helping me tap into the skill of equanimity. This ability to remain calm and centered on the inside regardless of what our external circumstances might be.
This doesn’t mean I can’t take action to change the things I can. In fact it usually comes from a much more empowered, impactful place when equanimity is involved. As for the things I can’t change, I need to accept them and move on.
With the things happening in our organisations and our country right now this can be a useful point of view as we navigate the future together and travel towards the inevitable winter which will of course become summer again in due course.
Arohanui