"Now ebb, now flood, now friend, now cruel goe;
Now glad, now sad, now weel, now into woe;
Now clad in gold, dissolvit now in ash;
So dois [does] this warld transitory go."
____ William Dunbar, "O' Wretch Beware"
The alternation of order and chaos are natural frequencies that balance our lives. Custom and change are but their children, who allow new influences and possibilities into the world. When things become too formalized and ordered, they become stale and static, lacking the life and energy that only change can bring. Yet when change strikes, we feel out of control, disordered, even attacked by its sudden overturning of all that we have known. Despite that, change is not. of its essence, antagonistic to us, only to our habitual and clinging notions. Long periods of change and fluctuation can be very wearing, however, because we have no order or pattern to give context to our living.
The period leading up to the spring equinox is similarly a time of great upheavel in nature: the first full moon of March usually heralds high tides and strong winds that enliven the long-dead period of late winter. The change of spring is one that we welcome with all our hearts, but we appreciate it warmly only because of what has gone before it. Our ability to cope with change will improve if we discover the art of living in the present moment, of being at home where and when we are.
"What strategies do you use for coping with change? Meditate upon the fresh opportunities and energies that change is currently bringing to your life."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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