April 23
I remain.

I remain when the night has passed and the sun shines high above the sky. I remain when the sun shines on the other side of the world and I see it not.

I remain when the rain sweeps across the horizon. I remain when a thousand flowers bloom in the autumn.

I remain.

I remain when life is miraculous and joy filled. I also remain when the stars align to make me grow through challenges.

I remain when my friends love me with all their hearts. I also remain when they find me completely unbearable.

I remain when my lover surrenders completely into me. I also remain when she hates the very sight of me.

I remain through the summer heat, the winter snow, the rainy days; I also remain when all seasons have ceased to remain and it’s simply an indistinguishable blur of a sweaty afternoon. I still remain. Something in me is beyond all change.

I remain when I have a lot of money, I can give freely and spend joyously. Yet I also remain when I don’t have so much money and have to worry about feeding myself in the next few days.

As I remain, I watch. As I watch, I understand. As I understand, I relax. As I relax, I rejoice. As I rejoice, I become grateful. As I become grateful, I feel love. As I feel love, I become one. As I become one, I remain…

Physical life arises from the dance of the opposites. The positive and negative. The masculine and feminine. The yin and yang. The good and bad. Birth and death. Yet we are not physical beings only. We are divinity in a body having a physical experience. The nature of this drama is such that it will always have the opposites ingrained into it. True joy will never arise from following the changes of this cosmic dance but from getting in touch with that part of you that never changes, that is beyond birth and death, that is eternal and non-physical, that is a silent witness to all change.

Be still and breathe. Take the time each day to sit quietly and remember who you truly are.

Changes will never cease to be. When the yin has reached its climax, it already contains within it the seed of its opposite. The dance of the opposites is what makes this physical experience so beautiful. It is the sorrow that carves your being deep enough to contain the joy that follows.

Be still and breathe. You shall remain when all change will cease to be.

Be still and breathe. You are beyond birth and death, success and struggle, pain and pleasure, love and hate.

Be still and breathe. You are beyond your looks, your financial status, your job description and your divorce count.

Who you are has nothing to do with your physical body or its achievements (or lack thereof). You are here to experience, to witness, to learn and to grow. The eternal Mother and Father are looking after you. The changes are all part of the plan. You are being guided. You are taken care of. You are going forward. You are loved beyond comprehension.

If some days all these changes become a little unbearable, say to yourself “I am in this change but not of it. I am the witness. I remain. I always have. I always will. These changes always keep going in cycles yet… I remain.”

~Shafin