Spirituality

If Change is the Only Constant, Why Do We Fight So Hard Against it?

By Eloise Ducker | Posted: February 13, 2020

The only constant is change. We know this...but do we really? Do you hold each moment lightly, knowing everything is temporary?

How many times do you cling to what you believe, or hope, is a certainty—to find, yet again, the only constant is change? When this loop appears, the lesson is remembered, then slips away once more. Surprise, delight, or disappointment is felt each time, and the trickery of change continues. The experience of traveling on the spiritual path is no exception.

Looking for the one

You seek, explore, and experiment with different practices, perspectives, and teachers, wondering if this time it is ‘the one’. The one practice that will bring you closer to living from your true authentic self, where you can be the witness to all that arises and experience ultimate freedom from the mind. To reside in a space where there is no clinging or aversion, but total acceptance, where life flows, and everything just is.

Each book, workshop, and webinar alludes to the promise of being the answer. For a while, maybe years, a practice or a teacher takes you on a journey that fulfills that moment in time. But then as you learn, grow, and move closer to your essence, either the relationship to that practice or teacher changes, or it no longer serves you in the same way, and the feelers once again reach out, seeking.

Change is the only constant. All the while, the true self, the unchanging part of you, remains. The outer shell, with all its conditioning changes and evolves, seeking to align and grow the connection to the unchanging self where all is well.

A cycle, you would assume, that propels you onward to new uncharted territory. Or so I thought. But we arrive at another illusion, the idea we can map out and predict the path of change...

Here I share an experience of the unexpected nature of change, on the path to inner freedom.

The Happiness Retreat

A few years ago, I found myself in the Art of Living’s Happiness Retreat, excited to learn a new technique to clear the mind and restore a connection to sustainable joy and peace in daily life, and keen to gather another practice to enhance my experience of life. I left the retreat having experienced the spaciousness and peace within me in a whole new way.

A few years went by, and I felt drawn to repeat the Happiness Retreat. Even though I knew what to expect, the unexpected happened. It was a totally different experience. Time had passed since the first retreat, and due to the nature of life, I had changed too. The change in perspective and understanding meant I received the wisdom and experience offered as entirely new gifts. I was reminded of a simple yet profound lesson. Wisdom is timeless, but as we change, we can receive the same wisdom in an entirely new way, which changes us once again.

We know that change is the only constant, but you may begin to notice how over time, your understanding and experience of this notion also changes and sits differently inside. Maybe even your experience of and what you thought was happiness changes too.

Perhaps one day, I will hold each moment so lightly, I will smile that I ever thought there was another way.