05/02/2018

Good Morning.

February is often a challenging month for me. It’s invariably cold and wet, my January plans for self-improvement have had mixed results, and Spring is yet to arrive. In the early years of our marriage, this was the moment when I used to fret that our relationship was on the rocks – until I noticed that since the same thoughts came around with regularity, perhaps it wasn’t the drama that it seemed – it was just that February feeling.

The Persian poet Attar of Nishapur tells the story of a powerful king who asks the wise men of his country to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad. Perhaps he was hoping for a piece of jewellery with magical powers. Instead, the sages handed him a simple ring with four words etched around it “this too will pass”. In a similar way, whenever I’m struggling I try to remember the Buddhist teachings on impermanence. Just as a plant emerges from a seed, just as clouds move across the sky, and just as the cells of our body are constantly renewing themselves, so our thoughts are changing in every second. So when I perpetuate t he idea that “I am feeling down” or even that “I am like this or like that” I’m not only allowing myself to become trapped by my negative emotions, but I’m being fundamentally unrealistic. Perhaps the original problem has already extinguished itself, without me noticing it?

Remembering impermanence is a very joyful thing to do, not just in February but all through the year. It reminds us that things will inevitably change, and fresh opportunities will arise, even if we can’t see around the corner. Let’s pray that we can all take comfort in the fact that Spring is on its way.