Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, we're going to talk about letting change happen. So there are times in our life when things shift and change quite suddenly. It's almost as if yesterday, the world was one way and we wake up today in a whole new realm. Maybe it's because the relationship comes to an end, or we find out that we need to move house or change jobs.

We might get some shocking news on a phone call, or maybe it could be that we're hearing news headlines that global circumstances have changed in some way. And you know, in these times it's disorienting and it's often scary. So when we're facing the unknown like this, sometimes we scramble for some sense of certainty again, some sense of safety in whatever form we can get it. Other times we get emotionally reactive as our expectations for what we wanted to happen are dashed. So a lot of the time, we don't even realize that we had these unconscious expectations of what would happen.

We just expect things to go the way we plan them to. And so a lot of the time when things change, we feel really put out. But the truth is nothing was ever solid. Nothing was ever fixed or permanent. Everything is transitory and in a state of flux and flow.

Now life itself is a constant unfolding process of change and we cannot control how it's going to unfold. This is really important to remember. Lao Tzu says, "Life is really a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them. That only creates sorrow.

Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." This also reminds me of a Bruce Lee quote from one of his movies where he's teaching martial arts. And he tells one of his students in the movie to be like water. In other words, to be fully present in each moment and meet whatever arises with openness and acceptance and a kind of fluidity, an adaptability rather than needing it to conform to our desires. So yeah, to be like water is this sort of sentiment of being very light on our feet and meeting things as they arrive in the moment and just working with the flow of life.

I really love this, you know. And in this way, instead of resisting the change, we kind of meet it with this spirit of curiosity, openness and adventure. So, this is the invitation for practice today is to just let change happen as best you can. Of course, we still may need to take some time to ground ourselves in mindfulness and compassion when the change kind of hits us, but also seeing if you can hold your expectations lightly, embrace uncertainty and allow impermanence to be part of the adventure of your life. As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.

And let's begin to settle in now for today's meditation.