Stress, anxiety, panic drives our mood, behavior, and actions. Something happens, we get triggered and our whole day goes wrong. When things go bad, and they will, is there a faster way out of suffering?

I listened intently to my meditation teacher Meredith Hooke explain the Buddhist concept of impermanence. I’m not religious although I have been practicing mindfulness for a while and I do have a regular meditation practice. Impermanence, an essential doctrine in Buddism asserts that “all of conditioned existence, without exception, is “transient, evanescent, inconstant”. Meaning, everything changes. All the time. Our inner world and our outer world. Nothing stays the same.

Yet, our egos are constantly wanting to see everything as constant. So we end up either chasing something or resisting something, leaving us disillusioned, unhappy, dissatisfied. 

A Zen master sees the cup as already half broken. This way, when it breaks, which eventually it will, he/she won’t be disappointed but grab the dust pan and move on with their life. 

A good theory but how does it work in practice. 

Yesterday, I received an email. One of these emails that make your stomach drop to your heels. A lot of work, a lot of hopes vanished in a matter of a couple of hundred words. What started as a great day turned quickly into anger, frustration, disappointment. 

Remembering the wise words of my spiritual teacher, I decided to wait it out, because eventually, it will change. I left work and went out for a cross-country skiing trip with my dog. I came up still angry. I had a hot tub. Still disappointed. I cooked a nice dinner. Still not in my usual happy state. I couldn’t create from a place of anxiousness. So I waited some more for it to change. I let the ego resolve the resisting and the chasing, wanting to change the story. I stayed with my feelings aware and present of what’s happening. Email causing bad mood. Cause and effect. An everyday scenario that throws us in a downward spiral. We quickly get into a state of stress, anxiety, suffering. Staying present, I waited some more. Not resiting anything. Not wanting to change anything. Being kind to myself. 

“This too shall pass,” said King Solomon’s ring. 

I found freedom in knowing that the feeling is impermeable. Eventually, the grip began to ease. Around 1am, I finally went to sleep. Happy. Content. Just like my teacher said, my mood changed. Today, I can go back to my creative space. The time it takes to bounce back shortens with practice. 

Finding inner peace means accepting the ups and downs, the highs and lows. Let them be.

Eventually, everything changes. Stay present. And remember to be kind to yourself.