Sunday, December 30, 2012

Can we really know?



Ten years ago, on a sunny February day, we took a walk on this beach right after we moved here, and were most surprised at how bright and sunny the day was, laughing out loud at stories of hurricane winds and biblical floods people had warned us about.

My jean jacket and pants are long gone. My body has changed too.(Happy to report that without really dieting, just cooking for my diabetic husband, we both managed to get our weight down to a reasonable size!)

This rock is no longer here. Through no desire of its own, during  last Thanksgiving Day's storm, this rock shattered and cracked and is now in smaller pieces. We lost a century tree in our yard also. It fell away from the house and the arbors, politely away from the driveway, over the street, to the opposite side of lake, taking down other trees and power lines. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, not even tiny critters who had the good sense to seek shelter before the storm.


We think we can manage to guide changes in our lives: make more money; upgrade a garden; lose weight; gain friends; clean debris; uproot weeds; repair the roof; establish new routines.
I found that changes come; they are all around, big and small. They will surprise us most of the time because we were too busy trying to manage the changes we thought we had to pay attention to.


We witness many things; but, changes that will actually impact us hit us when we least expect them.



7 comments:

  1. the rock shattered, for real, omg...wow...sad on the tree...had to cut one down at my parents not too long ago...changes do come, whether we bid them to or not, and we roll like a river, around them...best we can...

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  2. Wow, the rock shattered!

    I'm thinking about the changes I want to make in the upcoming year, as though those will be the only ones that could happen. Then I reflect on the ones that came to us this year, unbidden. We really are powerless.

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  3. Your post reminds me of some words I wrote years ago " That which is sought is often elusive. That which comes unbidden is reality before it is recognised." Says it all, don't you think?
    My 2013 bring you pleasant unbidden things! ♥

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  4. They will surprise us most of the time because we were too busy trying to manage the changes we thought we had to pay attention to.

    This is very well put. I've also found this to be true. I've been going back and reading journals from ten years ago and it is astonishing to me how much change has occured gradually, rather than dramatically. A lot of big profound changed occured over time while I was fretting about the changes I "thought I had to pay attention to."

    Great post.

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  5. Wow. Never should we underestimate the power of storms (scary situation with that tree; so glad no one was hurt, including the critters!). You are so right, we cannot plan all of the changes that come our way, we just have to keep going a step at a time, even if we have been turned into the wind...

    A very happy 2013 to you, Rosaria. May all of your changes be good ones!

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  6. We think we can manage the changes. But we can't. This is profound, Rosaria. We can manage ourselves though, and how we think about them, and respond to them. May our spirits expand and soar as we do in the coming year.

    Love. xoxo

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  7. One of my life quotes is "My life is like jello, flexible." It seems that rather than trying to manage changes it is easier to mold to them. You are SO right on in this blog.
    Happy 2013.

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