Aging is Impermanence in real time

Aging is an inescapable example of impermanence.

Aging has reminded me often about how fast things change and how many things we can’t control. Like my friends, my body is changing and requiring more upkeep than before. Whether that is surgery (I have 3 artificial joints now), medications (luckily I need very few—but that is likely to change with time), more asking for help (recognizing I can’t do all the things I did before), more paying attention to just how much energy I have on a given day. 

It’s also the gratitude for being here and getting to see my nieces’ and nephew’s children play in my pool and realizing it wasn’t yesterday that they were children themselves—its decades ago! Its gratitude for another day to try and be a better person. Its gratitude for my health, my family, my friends, my work and my faith in something bigger than myself.

Impermanence forces us to deal with change, it requires us to accept and it asks us to be courageous. It reminds us that life moves quickly and that we have savour every moment. It gives us the opportunity to change and do better each day.