The Challenge of Change

Autumn has got to be one the best season’s to take a leisurely stroll! Maple trees hang low, their sunshine leaves dancing in the wind and offering quite a display of colors. An orange leaf with brown specks looks as though it may have been showered with rust dust from a welding shop, and another leaf nearby that shows no signs of the changing season as it proudly shines in its yellow glory! But wait, I do spot just a dot, a tiny dot of reddish-brown right in the innermost fold of that leaf- change will come to it just as it does to all the autumn trees- surely but slowly. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight, unless you’re visiting a plastic surgeon! When we talk about reality and all things natural, slow and steady is how it goes. And yes, everything undergoes change, but it doesn’t have to be unnerving.

The self goes through many seasons of transformation- just as beautiful as nature’s. In fact, when it comes to the seasons of the heart, time is like a little feather drifting away as though it doesn’t exist. True joy is beyond the boundaries of any set of rules or measurement. Whatever season may come, the movement of this joy is much like nature’s- accepting change with grace and beauty. And as the seasons envelope and transform it, the self exhibits nothing but the best for others to enjoy. Its beautiful shades are manifold, each expressing through one’s personality. In the season of turmoil and anarchy, unity takes root and shows its colors under the strong hand of Abraham Lincoln, while in the season of hate, love takes root and moves mountains as in the life of Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi, and when finally the season of peace and liberty stand before us, a new kind of seeking takes root and makes us wonder, “Why are we here and what is our purpose?”

Now we’ve entered into a new set of seasons that will keep us asking until we spot the anchor within our spirit and hold on to it. Only then can we become like those snow laden trees that even in the harshest winter can enchant a passerby. Inner joy is constant and rich unlike any season- it’s just a matter of letting it come through in our character as and when a challenge springs forth. Then life becomes a masterpiece much like the autumn leaves that stand pretty although the next moment they may fall to the earth. Inner transformation like nature’s has its own beauty, its own pace and its own rhythm, and with the strength of the spirit and a little sprinkling of patience, every season can be a, “Bring it on!”

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5 Comments

  1. I really enjoyed your metaphors. Nature is the mirror of our souls and capturing the essence of life you have painted with your words images of transformation. It really inspires me to find that anchor within and witness the masterpiece of life! Beautiful.

  2. Pragya beautiful piece of writing . Such depth and understanding , can’t believe it’s from that cheeky little girl I know from ISPS . In your writing I always find depth of a master . There is so much wisdom , clarity of thoughts and simplicity . It’s amazing how you’ve touched each season and extracted the essence of it and related it to the significance of life .

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