2,600 years ago Heraclitus was credited with an important maxim for us as we try to live our life. He said, “The only constant in life is change.”
Still centuries later we often try in vain to turn back the advance of time, fighting a losing battle. Plastic surgery and all sorts of elixirs promise us the fountain of youth. How we want to hold onto youthful beauty.
Trying to mask over our outward appearance we can become oblivious to the changing nature of life. We can become lulled into complacency as each day, while unique, begins to blend into the next. We get up, we work, we come home, and we go to bed and repeat again tomorrow.
Then we are blindsided, taken aback when some dramatic change occurs in our life. For example, we exclaim how could this happen when a loved one leaves us – even though at some level we all know that our time here is limited.
Change can occur subtly and almost imperceptibly but it is occurring nonetheless. Perhaps this is why when I went to a 33-year high school reunion, everyone else had aged while I still felt the same. In reality, I am sure my friends saw the same passage of time reflected in me as I saw in them.
While the outer me has gone through visible aging, the real me, the inner me, – my soul, my consciousness, my awareness, my witness, my watcher, whatever you call the higher-self, has been observing and taking part in this evolving, flowing life since I became manifest nearly 50-years ago.
I have become quite comfortable with change and this level of comfort began by processing that change is the very nature of life itself. Rather than being swept along by the winds of change, I learned I could allow them to blow through me.
The sooner we make peace with the reality of the impermanence of things, the sooner we can transcend all the strife and reside in a place of peace of contentment.
To this end here are a few songs about change that have some valuable information as well as being great tunes to listen to:
Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Byrds
Turn! Turn ! Turn!
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven
Based on the book of Ecclesiastes 3 in the Bible, this song beautifully captures and describes the ebb and flow of life.
Changes – David Bowie
Changes
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange)
Turn and face the strain
Change can be uncomfortable, but we can’t run from it. We should instead be open and accepting to the strange new that results from change. We can instead allow it to occur. Rather than resisting the strain of change, we can go with the pull of the change and go for a ride. When facing the strain, instead of pulling against it, we are not opposing the energy of the change itself. We conserve energy when we go with the Flow rather than when we oppose it.
Don’t Change – INXS
Don’t Change
Don’t change a thing for me
I have always liked this song. The chorus line that says “Don’t change a thing for me”, conveys that we should accept others where they are in their life without judgment. Live and let live.
Across The Universe – The Beatles
Across The Universe
My favorite of the songs about change is Across The Universe. To me, this song conveys the sublime truth of our connection with God.
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Jai Guru Deva OM
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing can change your world when you are the change itself.
Om