Change

Tim Coats, Hayward WI

Shortly before the end of his long life, my father remarked, “I’m glad I won’t be around to see the car go over the cliff.”

His remark surprised me because Dad was an optimist.

Change is difficult. I suspect there hasn’t been an elder class yet that hasn’t felt the future was headed in a concerning direction.

Recently, I was sitting around the campfire at our cabin, thinking about the changes we’ve seen over the past thirty years. There used to be so many bats at dusk that we used them to signal when to head into the house to avoid being attacked by mosquitoes. The bats are mostly gone now. So are the yearling tadpoles that were too plentiful to count.

According to WWF's Living Planet Report 2024, there has been a 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations over the past 50 years. Is that what I’m seeing?

One thing is certain: nothing stays the same for long.  Fourteen thousand years ago, our lakeshore was covered by a half-mile-thick ice sheet. Things change!

Last night, the Milky Way was spectacular. That skyward view is destined to change as well.  Elon Musk wants to launch something like a million satellites to provide ubiquitous broadband internet service.  He’s already launched 10,000.  I could see them tracking across the sky like invasive sweet ants on a kitchen counter.

It saddens me to think that my Granddaughters will gaze up into a rush-hour sky.

But are we headed for the cliff?

The future will bring many exciting changes; at the same time, some things will go the way of the carrier pigeon. At times I relate to my Dad’s feelings. But there’s not a lot I can do about most of the changes that concern me.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say humanity will be fine. Homo Sapiens have only been around for about three hundred thousand years; the dinosaurs lasted about five hundred times longer; that gives us something to shoot for.

In the meantime, for whatever time I have left, I prefer to practice Acceptance and Presence rather than pessimism.

Acceptance neutralizes change. When we accept things as they are (which includes not wishing they were different), we circumvent the emotional turmoil that accompanies change.  Presence pairs nicely with acceptance. Thoughts are responsible for most of our stress. Presence gives us a break from self-centered neurosis. Besides, the moment, unpolluted by thought, is always beautiful.

Acceptance and Presence might seem like a passive approach to life. But anyone who practices them knows that is not the case.

My video series Training For Inner Peace provides instruction for building a practice of Presence, going into depth on practices I covered in my book, The Secret Within. They are worth checking out!

Jim Morrison, front man for The Doors, sang, “The future’s uncertain, the end is always near, so let it roll baby roll.”

I like that sentiment; I just hope he wasn’t referring to a car headed for the cliff!

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If you are new to this blog, each Sunday, I post a topic relevant to the pursuit of a life well-lived, defined as experiencing happiness that is resilient to difficult circumstances, seeing where we “fit in,” and feeling accepted just as we are.

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