Awareness fail…

Today begins a new stage in my life, and with it comes a personal reflection.

Some time ago, one of my teachers said something that caused a great impression in me; “In this world, the only constant you will find is change.”

It’ funny how most of us find this simple phrase so evident as to consider it irrelevant or even trivial, but this only shows we don’t really understand it in it’s full dimension.

Even though we are certainly aware of change at it’s grossest level, after all none of us can deny the change a car suffers when a lamppost suddenly gets in it’s way, the truth is we stubbornly insist in being blind the more subtle change going on around us all the time. If you doubt this, just ask yourself sincerely, have you ever stopped to consider that each time you leave home might be the last one?

I’m sure most of you found this last question a bit extreme and even exaggerated, but all we need do is take a look at any newspaper to become aware what a real possibility this is.

Indeed our need for security and stability is so deeply entrenched that all it takes is a floor under our feet, walls around us and a ceiling above our heads to make us feel perfectly safe, even if these happen to be part of an extremely complex and fragile piece of machinery moving at missile speed three thousand feet above the ground… meaning most commercial planes in service.

Now, before you start taking me for an unrepentant pessimist, it might be good to return to the part where I said this is nothing but my personal reflection on change and impermanence, triggered by my current situation.

You see, after spending the last five years of my life exploring the world of ‘job security’ and ‘financial stability’ I have found myself thrust (or rather shoved) back into being my own boss, not to mention my own secretary, accountant, office boy, cleaning lady and sole employee… as well as the master of my own destiny.

This is a strange situation where at the same time I’m starting a new adventure into the unknown and the re-encounter with old familiar paths I’ve threaded for so long.

I don’t know what the future will bring, and to be quite frank it doesn’t worry me a lot lot because nobody does anyway. All I know is I’ll be doing what we all should do, follow the path without asking or giving quarter and facing whatever life brings, day by day.

No retreat, no surrender.

Alfonso Acosta

‘The KamikaZEN’

Little paws,
A gentle mewing,
Bring me back
Asking for breakfast.

Get up,
Bow down,
Go practice love.

Life, any life,
A rare accident,
A breaking wave,
A sudden flash.

Life, any life,
Blown away forever
Like a tiny poem
Written in the sand.

Life, any life,
Sacred in it’s brevity.
A rare jewel,
A lonely star.

Next life may be better.
Tomorrow might be next life.
Do we know?

Each one a drop of life,
Flowing down a river,
To the sea

Kyosaku strikes.

Breathe in,
Breathe out,
Gently but firmly
Return to now.