Changing How We View Change

The times, they are a changing or at least the seasons are.  I love Autumn with its reprieve from the hot days of summer.  I love football, sweater weather, hot cider, and the beauty of foliage.  I remember sharing one Fall how much I enjoy watching the leaves change in color and in fact, each year I enjoy it more than the one before.  The response from an older gentlemen was… “Dean, you’re getting old!”

I’m getting old because I love to watch the leaves change??  I’m getting old??  Thanks to him, I now connect my favorite season with getting old.  I watch the leaves change and realize that I too am changing.  Just as they go from youthy green tones to mature amber ones, I too am changing in color and texture.

There a difference between my morphing and that of the trees.  They do it gracefully and effortlessly.  They change from one day to the next and even own change by letting go.  Falling…falling…falling…falling…falling…falling… to their death.  Such grace and gracefulness as they change and let go of their hold on what’s holding them.  It seems they know exactly how to change and come to the end of themselves. 

I know what follows Autumn.  The barren trees will broadcast winter in no time.  No time at all…now!  One day they are bursting forth in lively colors and the next they stand naked against the blue sky.  Naked trees…for all to see.  You get see what they look like when the camouflage is gone.  You see their bare limbs and those that aren't so…limber anymore.

Life has a way of undressing us…so to speak.  We do everything in our power to cover up but at some point we get dressed down and it can be a blow to our egos.  We cloth ourselves with degrees and careers, and power, and popularity, and desires, and lovers, and family and wealth and goods and cosmetics and perfumes and…  We dress up well!!  So well, that we don’t want to be undressed.  We hold on…with grit and determination to what we have along with the pretense of control. 

Most of us talk about the weather so much because it bothers us.  We can’t control it. Since we can’t, we’re glad it changes.  If you don’t like the weather… stick around!  What if viewing nature changed how we view change.  What if we relinquished our illusion of control and just went with the flow of things?  What if change is not a bad thing…after all?  What if change, changes us and we saw it not as loss but liberation?  What if change helps us to let go of what was so we can take hold of what is.

Have you heard the story of the monkey?  The monkey wants a banana!  The monkey finds a banana!  The monkey puts his hand through the hole and takes hold of the banana!  The monkey tries to remove his hand but finds he is boxed in.  The monkey has the banana or the banana has the monkey.  Which is it?  The monkey is trapped not by the box but by the monkey himself.  Talk about monkey business!!  The monkey is held captive but not really...not by reality.  The monkey is imprisoned by nothing more than…holding on!  If the monkey lets go… the monkey can go…on to freedom.  It’s up to the monkey.  What are you holding on to?  What’s monkey-ing  with you?  Let it go!!  Let it go so you can take hold of what’s next…before you go bananas!!

The times, they are a changing and the seasons of your life too!