How do I navigate through in impermanent times when everything is moving, good and bad, and the next steps are unknown? Such a great question, but I want to just kind of like, kind of bust your perception right? Oh, wide open. Life is impermanent, all of it, every bit of it every moment, you are only holding the illusion of some kind of security, our finite reality, that what is today will always be. So when you asked me that question, how to navigate through it? The bigger question is, how do I navigate through life? And how do I let go of my attachment to permanence, and embrace impermanence. There's a book that I love called The Wisdom of insecurity by Alan Watts, a good friend of mine recommended to me years ago, and it transformed my whole relationship to it. Because the other part of what you're talking about here is, well, how do I define myself? Right? We create all these attachments. Oh, my name is Joel. Oh, I'm a black man. Oh, I'm of a certain age. Oh, I'm a musician. Oh, I'm a meditation teacher, whatever it might be. It's not who I am. Because the things that I do this are the things that I enjoy. Because they're part of the way that I share and express myself. But that's not who I am.
The essence of who I am is impermanent. And also infinite. Right, the energy moving through us from where did it begin? And where will it end? Who can say we all have ideas about it. But none of those are knowable in the permanent sense. So when you're talking about navigating through, quote, unquote, good and bad moments, I would encourage you to let go of the judgment of any moment. And recognize that all moments are equal. There is an equality of everything you experience, and it's called the now it's called the present. It's called the gift of life. And when you let go of that attachment of needing to judge it, now you can set yourself in a space of curiosity. Call to an acronym Co A L. You'll hear me say it often, because it's so powerful. I pick this up from Dan Seeger, Dr. Dan Seeger, interpersonal neurobiology. He's, he's he's a gym. Religion, great intersect between science and meditation and mindfulness. But Cole, just maintaining openness. We're here to be curious. What was natural for everyone as a as a kid, there was this curiosity. And then we decided we knew what everything was because we put labels on them. Go, oh, that's a bird. Oh, that's a car. That's a cat. No, that's the sound that you give it. You don't know the true nature of a bird. You don't know what it's like to spread your wings and fly. You don't know what it's like to sing their songs, or make their nest or attend to their young. Not experientially, you can witness it. Right? We don't know all these things. So remembering that you don't know staying curious about your life. That's the see then the next part is openness. How do you stay openness to curiosity creates a certain level of openness, but how do you embody it? How do you embody some openness with life? How do you witness it, stay in the middle way, without becoming attached. And that's where the freedom lies. to always be present to the impermanence. Not to think it's something that you have to navigate but to know that's the only thing that is which actually brings you to acceptance, which is the A C O, A. Accepted right. This is a whole other way to walk through the world with pure acceptance. And then love. That's called Curiosity, openness, acceptance and love. And when you get to love just to ask yourself another question. What is the most loving response that I am available for? What is the most loving response that I am available for to this situation? Whether it's something that you desire or whether it's something that's undesirable? What is the most loving response I'm available for? When you step into that space curious, open detach, no judgment, no good, no bad. A witness, present, mindful and loving. Now there's space to move through life with more ease and embrace that impermanence. Because when you recognize how impermanent everything is that we only have this moment that's the gold. That is the gold because then you appreciate it on a level that can only bring joy. Only elicit a smile and laughter
