Impermanence and your flower practice

I seem to be permanently contemplating impermanence.

It could be on the meditation cushion, observing sensations arise and pass away. Or noticing the changes in day-to-day life.  Even discussing the challenges of mergers with corporate managers or witnessing world events.  Yes, it seems. Impermanence is here to stay.

The spotlight goes on to those phenomena, people, projects, possessions and places that we are attached to. They seem to be uncannily designed to offer us the rich lessons of impermanence and deficiency.

Each of us is cleverly equipped with physical, psychological and spiritual resources to ensure that we can integrate our disappointments. With an in-built ability to grieve, heal, learn and let go.

Drawing on Richo’s (2007) suggestion, a practice we can adopt, relates to the flowers we may display.  Do we discard them as soon as they show signs of wilting? Or when they lose their colour or their perfume.? When they are just less perfect than when we first bought them?  So are we prepared to keep them in the vase, long after they are withered, and witness their decay?  By doing this simple thing, we can contemplate each phase of a flower’s life. From bud to death. We deepen our acceptance and appreciation of life’s cycles,  and expand our sense of impermanence. To acknowledge there are beauty and gifts to be found in each phase of change, not just one.

The anniversary of Dad’s sudden passing away is coming up.  I will buy some beautiful flowers at the market. And I shall leave them in the vase.