EMBRACE CHANGE - 11-24-2013 - Inspiration from source: Embrace change. 

Woke up this morning with the thought pulsing in my brain. Looked out the window to see a completely different landscape than was there yesterday - just as pretty as the one from yesterday, but completely different. Tuned into facebook and all my inspirational messages were saying the same thing. Wow. Change is making a case for itself today. And truth, my life is better since I stopped fighting change. 

Why do we try so hard to hold onto what we know, what we have...the bird in the hand? Is a bird in the hand really better than two in the bush? (sexual innuendo aside)...really - two birds flying on the horizon or two hummingbirds at the window - is that any less fulfilling than a canary in a cage? Could it be that the bird in the cage is actually NOT as fulfilling as the birds flying free? Could it be that's why so many "happy" people aren't really all that happy...they just look like it inside their prettily decorated cages? 

That's what I come to more and more. Most of us are holding on so tightly that we aren't open to the gifts that the universe is offering. Why try to hold onto something when there's always something beautiful happening. Live in this moment, now, and it's pretty damned beautiful - even though it's completely different than the moment that just happened.

I'm in theater, all we do is create things with the knowledge that they are temporal, ephemeral and worth striving for anyway. I spend every day training young actors to leave. If they don't leave, I am a failure. When they do leave, I am alone...for a few minutes. When I let myself settle into trying to hold on, not only am I not happy, but my students struggle with concerns as well. So my goal is always to applaud their departure, maybe give some good advice, and then always be ready to give a hug and some comfort if they ever want to return for any reason.

But if you try to hold onto that amazing kiss - you get chapped, raw lips. Try to hold onto that embrace, and you find it hard to breathe. Hold on too tight, and you leave bruises or you kill what is good. I have learned recently it can take forever for some bruises to heal. The place of memory is lovely for a visit, and can bring a quick smile in the remembering, or tears in experiencing loss - but if we embrace change - the now is the moment of choice. This moment is the most beautiful we have to experience. If every moment is a gentle embrace, then there is no bruising - only euphoria.

Live in the moment, embrace the change with joy instead of anger - and maybe, just maybe, it doesn't really matter what is yet to come.

It's something to strive for. Namaste.