When we talk about “nothing lasts forever” people generally start hearing the song “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas playing in their heads. Yes, this idea does mean that we will not last forever. We are mortal. But there is a lot to this that is very powerful if you let it be.
When you have a chronic illness, you know that the illness isn’t going away. There is no cure. However, there are good days and there are bad days. When the good days come, do your best to live in the moment and enjoy that time to the fullest. What do you do when the bad times come? Well, get out your coping skill tool kit for one and for two: embrace the idea of impermanence.
Here’s the thing, no matter how much it sucks in the moment there is always the comfort that it will eventually end. All things do. That’s the nature of the universe. So, it becomes a matter of biding your time and waiting it out. Use your coping skills tool kit to help you endure and call on your emotional support.
Let go of the idea that this will last forever. It won’t. I promise.
Suffering is a universal part of the human experience. Each of us suffer in our own way, unique to our life experience. Suffering is not a static thing. It is a tide that comes in and it goes out. It washes over us and then recedes. A constant tide in the ocean of experience. Each wave will crash and the water will recede. No suffering remains always. Let these waters come over you, knowing that they are visitors only and cannot stay.
Suffering takes on a different quality when one listens to it as a single fleeting note rather then imagining it as a symphony that constantly accompanies our lives. The way that we talk and think about our suffering will change the way that we experience it. So, always remind yourself of its impermanence.
There’s no denying that each of us will experience challenges to our well-being over which we have no control. If we are able to face these situations knowing that nothing is permanent, then we are more likely to appropriately handle and overcome them.
Zebra Pig 