Change Is Constant But Seems To Come In Waves - Grasshopper

The Greek Philosopher Heraclitus told us, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Yet, there are many things that seem constantly stationary and only appear to change in waves. Do you believe Heraclitus or your own lyin’ eyes?

I believe change is perceived differently at different levels. My best guess is at the subatomic level (meaning out of our awareness) that change is constant. On the conscious level change seems cyclical.

 

For example, we are changing every day but unless we look at photographs from 5 or 10 years ago we may not notice the ongoing, physical change. And when we experience the photo album, it seems as if the change happened at a point. That easily explains our dual perception of change. But many of the changes we experience are not visibly perceptible. They are changes we feel.

 

These feeling changes are going on at all times too, but until they build to a critical mass, most of us don’t perceive them. We are out of touch with our feeling sense and don’t notice the sensations of change until they build up and knock us for a loop.

 

It’s like the old analogy of the lobster in a pot of cold water on a stove. If the water is heated slowly, the lobster has no sense that the temperature is constantly changing until it hits the boiling point.

 

Most of us are resistant to change. That’s like being resistant to the tide - the result: ocean wins again.

 

That means if we ignore our feelings and pretend they really aren’t changing, we will get to a point where they crest and forcefully knock us over.

 

I refer to this practice of ignoring our ongoing sensations as “talking over top of our feelings.” That’s like trying to convince yourself that a wave isn’t building. That never works but we do it all the time.

 

“I am unhappy” is a statement of feelings at critical mass. “I have unhappiness within me” is a noticing of our feelings along the way.  The words of Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu come to mind: “Do the difficult things while they are easy.”

 

There will be things that unexpectedly happen that you can do nothing to prevent. But if you plumb your feelings on an ongoing basis, full blown, “out of the blue” blues will happen less, because you’ll sense and address your feelings before they turn into a big mess.

 

All the best,

John