Impermanence

"Nothing stays the same" seems like a trite saying until you meditate on it, really examine it.   Really?  Nothing stays the same?  NOTHING??  Yes, nothing.  Not rocks, not people, not their bodies or their minds, not streets or buildings or relationships, everything is continually evolving and shifting. We go along, accept what life brings us, strive to create a reality that pleases us, try to live a life worth living and then comes the greatest thing we will ever do in our lifetime and that is die.  What we hope for is a good death and what makes for a good death is a good life.  So, by examining death, a subject that so many people, especially Westerners, find taboo (or, at least, extremely difficult), we are able to meditate on our ideas about living, and, hopefully, achieve some of what we idealize.  "Compassion and love and the attainment of knowledge" is, according to Buddhist masters, what life is all about.  I'm learning how nothing is permanent and studying why it is we grasp ahold of seemingly everything.  We try so hard to keep things from changing.  Being uncomfortable with change is to be uncomfortable with life.  The knowledge I'm striving for these days is how to be comfortable with life and all the changes it brings so that when my death comes (as it will to all of us!) I'll be ready.  I want to live a long and satisfying life and at the same time, be ready for the end as I know it on this plane.