Are they not having a ball?  They have no argument
with reality, and in fact, dance joyfully amid the transience of things.

Things come, things go.  Can you say “hello” and “goodbye” to what arises in your life with your whole heart?   If not, hope and fear dominate the mind and close off rich possibilities.  If you are more open to the truth of impermanence, you know an openness that is full of beauty and love.  Harmonizing with the fact that everything comes and goes is a gateway to freedom.  Contemplating this recently brought to mind Herman Hesse’s poem, “Stages.”  This is an excerpt:

“Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces…

So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.”

I have an image I use when I find I’m hoping for something better or fearing what may come:  I imagine my beloveds, my body, my travel plans, my beliefs (it could be anything) as a Tibetan sand painting.  Those vibrant colors and the awesome design that took so much time and energy to create are exquisite!

When the painting is done, poof!  It’s blown away by those who created it into the realm of the infinite.  This is big-sky mind, which teaches us to love and hold everything loosely.  Nothing to cling to, nothing to reject.  What’s left?  The dance.  So, what if you begin, or continue, to embrace what arises in this dream-like, floating world wholeheartedly, without grasping or rejection?  The music goes on, with or without us.  Now that is something to relax into!