All Things Must Pass
Oct 30th, 2005 at 11:48 am by Susie
Sunset doesn’t last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this my love is up
And must be leaving
It has not always been this gray
All things must pass
All things must pass away.
“All Things Must Pass,” George Harrison
Daylight savings time shifted this morning, and I was up before the dawn, listening to music while I took in a pair of too-baggy jeans on my sewing machine. This song came on, and I got all introspective and shit.
Maybe it’s the time of year, or just getting older. But lately, I have such a strong sense of my life as ephemeral, a pair of jeans that don’t fit anymore. Sure, I can pretend the crotch doesn’t hang to my knees or that the ass isn’t sagging - but it is and it was time to do something. Since I know how to sew, I took them in. But I’m still losing weight, there’s only so much I can do and sooner or later, they have to go. And I accept that.
I wish the other decisions were that easy.
All things must pass.
It’s gotten slightly easier to let go. (Not “easy,” mind you, but easier.) And not of things or places so much as people - whether by death, divorce or decision, time accelerates and people you thought or hoped would be around forever are suddenly gone.
All things must pass.
One of the things I love about middle age is the perspective. I always think of it as finally being high enough on the mountain to see the lay of the land. And while I suppose it’s a New Age cliche, situations that seem pointlessly painful while I’m going through them do invariably land me in a better place. Whether it’s losing a job or going through a breakup, it seems to me I always got a better deal as a result.
Is that reality, or simply my perspective?
It has not always been this gray.
I remember my first plane ride. It was a dark, gloomy day and when the plane nosed its way up past the clouds, I literally gasped - because up there, it was sunny and the skies were still so blue. Sometimes I think of that and remind myself clouds aren’t as permanent as they seem.
I don’t have many crippling dark times anymore. Here and there, but extended periods of gloom are no longer welcome in my life.
A mind can blow those clouds away.
I’ve always been a dreamer, a person with big ideas. And I always thought it was funny, how scornful the “sensible” and “practical” types are of people like me. They point to my failures as proof I shouldn’t have tried in the first place. Which is interesting, because they seem to think being paralyzed and knotted up in fear is somehow preferable. “Don’t expect anything, and you won’t be disappointed,” one ex used to chide me.
What a silly thing to say. What a sad way to live.
The naysayers are gone from my life, like the baggy clothes I’m giving to the Goodwill. Not without some happy memories, not without regret - but I acknowledge they no longer fit the life I have now.
There was a time not so long ago that, tormented by self-doubt, I thought it only “fair” to give more weight to the opinions of those who thought me immature and reckless for pursuing a creative life.
After all, what if believing in myself turned out to be a horrible delusion? I knew I could always count on those certain people to kick me when I was down, to remind me of my irrational desire. If I felt bad, they were sure to make it worse. I suppose I thought I deserved it.
These days, I feel sorry for those people. Because they’re the ones chained to crippling, irrational desire. What is fear if it’s not desire? It’s the desire to hold onto things exactly the way they are. It’s a childlike dream of predictable repetition.
The universe is not built for stasis. So who’s the irrational one?
Let’s say you’ve had a deeply traumatic experience and at all costs, you want to avoid reliving it. So you construct your entire life around preventing a repeat of that past trauma, put all your energy into anticipating and controlling all the risk factors, jettison anything that hints at the unpredictable and then call it stability.
Is it? To me, my stability lies in my ability to bend horizontal with the hurricane winds - not some painful, fearful procedure that involves shoving a steel rod up my ass so I can stand up to those winds.
In the past year or so, I feel myself gingerly approaching what some of you still think of as success - that is, it seems my outward achievements might eventually come in line with the inward ones. I had to clear out a lot of emotional flotsam and jetsam to get here, but now I’m ready.
And if it all goes south? All things must pass.
“To me, my stability lies in my ability to bend horizontal with the hurricane winds – not some painful, fearful procedure that involves shoving a steel rod up my ass so I can stand up to them.”
Well said. I love the “steel rod” part.
Judgementalness of others is merely a defense of one’s self. Those who think they know what is best for others are speaking about their own lack of confidence in themselves.
In the end, the only one who has to answer the question is you. Answering that question positively is, to me, the essence of a successful life.
The question must be asked everyday. And if you find yourself answering the question negatively more than positively, you’re cheating and hating yourself, and everyone else you commit to.
Actually, Daylight Saving Time ENDED this morning.
this is an article on what you can expect next year. the real force behind extending daylight saving time in the fall is not children who wnat another hour of daylight for trick or treating, but Brach candy company. otherwise, the biggest drive for moving the clock forward is to get the stock market in New York open before the London market closes.
CNN: July Article on Daylight Saving Extension
Lawmakers move to extend daylight-saving time
Measure part of energy bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — An agreement was reached Thursday to extend daylight-saving time in an effort to conserve energy, but not to the extent the House approved in April.
House and Senate negotiators on an energy bill agreed to begin daylight-saving time three weeks earlier, on the second Sunday in March, and extend it by one week to the first Sunday in November. The House bill would have added a month in the spring and another in the fall.
According to some senators, farmers complained that a two-month extension could adversely affect livestock, and airline officials said it would have complicated scheduling of international flights.
“We ought to take a hard look at this before we jump into it,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who questioned how much oil savings the extension would produce.
Reps. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Fred Upton, R-Michigan, agreed to scale back their original proposal, and Senate negotiators accepted the new version, along with a call for a study on how much daylight-saving time actually affects oil consumption.
“The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier,” said Markey.
Upton noted that the extension means daylight-saving time will continue through Halloween, adding to safety. “Kids across the nation will soon rejoice,” said Upton, because they’ll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.
Lawmakers said they hoped to complete the energy legislation next week.
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The five rememberances of Buddhism:
1. I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape growing old.
2. I am of the nature to have ill health. I cannot escape ill health.
3. I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death.
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love is of the nature to change. I cnnot escape being separated from them.
5. My actions are my ony true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.
Most of our suffering comes from struggling against these realities. Accepting them leaves more time to appreciate life as it is instead of trying to make it something it cannot be.
>>Upton noted that the extension means daylight-saving time will continue through Halloween, adding to safety. “Kids across the nation will soon rejoice,� said Upton, because they’ll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.
????
Trick-or-treating didn’t get going until it was dark. Geez, of all the things the right had to F* with they even managed to foul up trick-or-treating.
‘Cause you know nothin’s scarier than a cheap goblin or ghost costume in full daylight. :p
Susie, it’s personal reflections such as these that set your blog apart from the vast majority of even the best political sites.
Keep ‘em coming, and keep growing.
What Izqquierdo said.
What dveej said about what Izquierdo said!