Parinama Sutras, (I may have to become a Chameleon )- as all things change.

One of the easiest teachings to voice, but one of the hardest to deal with, is that everything changes.

We all understand that things change, in fact quite often we pray for it, hope for it, and bank on it.!

But alongside that, we know that to take on something new we must let go of something old. Something that’s familiar, something we know well.

Something that comforts us.

Even our pain can, and is, sometimes familiar enough, to give us some form of comfort and we cling to it.

We love our habits even if they aren’t good ones.

Allowing change without trying to hold on to the familiar is not easy to do.

We hold onto our comfort places for safety, “this is how it is” “it’s always been this way,” “this is how we’ve always done it.”

And of course our belief in that what worked well before, will always work well again.

There’s a lot of value to be had in experience, but if everything changes then that includes time change, environment, ability, equipment, opportunity, and in fact us, then yes, we do learn from experience but what worked well before will have to be adapted to fit into our present, we have to change colour to let things fit.

We have to become adaptable.

We hold onto the idea that things need to stay the same so that we are safe, but there’s no safety in this, we are mistaken. 

It’s one of our biggest misunderstandings.

Believing that things stay the same is an illusion, it’s a  part of avidya our ignorance and misapprehension, part of the suffering we continue to create for ourselves.

Change can be scary, we fear it, and we long for it, yet still we try to hold it back.

But why?, when we are only one step away, one turn of a coin, one word spoken, and we could allow ourselves to embrace it and we can reduce our own suffering.

Like everyone else change makes me nervous, I want the moments of my life that are joyful to stay, those moments that happen when we wish if only life could stay like this forever.!

But we know that’s impossible, the Parinama Sutras tell us that all things change, that’s the truth, we either embrace it or we suffer.

So part of our practise, away from the mat, is to embrace change, not hide from it. But blend with it, move with it, mould ourselves round it.

And we aren’t talking about one big change here, and then another, one big event to the next, these aren’t necessarily big events, from the tiny to the huge, change is a constant.

You can long for change now, and it will happen, but  of course it won’t stay it will change again.

Everything is flowing, nothing is constant.

So a practise, a bhavana, a way of becoming, 

I’m thinking of visualising myself as a chameleon, every time I feel myself trying to stop change from happening, which is inevitable, I will just take a deep breath, stay still, wait for my colour to change to fit my environment, in a way that will keep me safe and prevent me from suffering or causing anyone else’s suffering.

Even as I say it my ego kicks in, “ but this is not you” and it lists all the things that I believe make me, Me!

Scary!

So it turns out my ego doesn’t want me to embrace change, it wants me to hold on to the things it believes make me who I am.

But my ego isn’t me and it isn’t who I am……………

So I’m thinking of visualising myself as a chameleon and let’s see how it goes……..

Parinama – Yoga sutra Chapter 2 verse 15.

For a wise and discriminating person, all experiences are ultimately suffering, due to pain from CHANGE, anxiety/craving, underlying conditioning, and the conflicting activities of the gunas.

Gill Ansty YHET trustee