Accepting Life

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans"-John Lennon

That quote from John Lennon I have found to be very true.  It is so easy to have a plan for your life and for things to change the course of your plan as you go through life.  Sometimes your whole life can change completely in an instant.  Other times you keep redrawing the plans only to have different occurrences happen to make you adjust your plans.  I can't tell you how many times I try to foresee a problem and work it out in my head only to have the problem resolve itself or never present itself because things have changed.  Also there have been many times when I have been stuck in a bad situation and feel hopeless but the situation eventually changes or things are going good only to have an event change everything.  Life is like a kaleidoscope constantly turning and changing.  It's like that line in the Elton John song Can You Feel The Love Tonight "...the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn".  We are all connected on this earth and because of that things are constantly in motion and changing just like a twisting kaleidoscope and we have to accept that.  We can be so much more at peace when we understand that things are one way now and they will change and be another way later.  

My dog drove that point home to me when he had surgery.  He had to where one of those cones they put on pets after surgery cause he went right for the stitches if it was off.  Because of this even on walks he wore it.  However the cone interfered with his ability to sniff the ground and the bushes.  And that is a major problem for him.  He is all about the politics of sniffing out where other dogs have urinated and leaving his own message.  He takes it as a very serious business and I felt bad watching him struggle to sniff and get in the right position to post his own message.  But as I watched him my pity turned to admiration.  He was making due the best he could.  He did not appear to be wallowing in self-pity at his predicament or cursing the fates.  He was just trying to do the best he could with the situation he was given.  He wasn't going to give up he was just going to accept the hand he had been dealt and work with it.  Which became all the more amazing when I realized that he had no way of knowing this was a temporary situation or for how long things were going to be this way.  I knew it was only for a couple weeks but he didn't.  For all he knew this was a long term development.  I realized that he knew that things were once different than they currently are and now he had this new challenge to face and that things were probably going to change again but for right now he would accept what life has presented him with and do the best he can with it.  He was still going to do what he felt was important for him to do and he would just go with the flow.  

Wild animals do this too.  They live by the forces of what nature deals them.  They don't know if they are going to eat today or get eaten themselves.  They may have to fight to defend themselves or their homes might be destroyed.  Any number of things could happen to them as the twisting kaleidoscope continues to turn.  These things could happen to humans but too often we humans build up illusions of control in regards to our life.  We feel we can foresee calamity and control our circumstances but in reality we are also at the whims of the twisting kaleidoscope.  I find it hard but after watching my dog and wild animals go with the flow I try to do the same.  Often I will forget and have to keep reminding myself(my dogs help remind me too along with other animals).  But if we go with the flow and accept the impermanence of life I think it will make us more at peace.  It doesn't mean we don't set out to do things or change things.  My dog still urinated on the bushes, he still did his thing he just accepted what life threw at him and worked with it.  Just like if a lion doesn't catch the gazelle she will simply go after the zebra.  They accept that things are always changing and they will continue to do their thing and face whatever life throws at them.  That's just life to face the challenges while doing our thing the best we can.  Does anyone have some other reminders that you have to go with the flow in life?  Or challenges that had to be overcome?