A Note on Impermanence
A Note on Impermanence
And the snacks, books, and music I am super into right now!
Hello my dear friends. It is a beautiful Monday here in Seattle and I am excited to finally have some time to write to you all. I was supposed to release a new podcast episode yesterday but my plans got derailed after contracting Covid-19 while traveling last weekend. I spent a beautiful few days with my family on Sonora Island, off the coast of British Columbia, and had a magical time. I sent off my film to be developed, I can’t wait to show you. A new podcast episode will be coming soon, as soon as I have enough energy to record and produce it haha.
I have been thinking a lot recently about work. Where it started, why it’s necessary, and what purpose it serves in my life. All of this was prompted by a recent library find, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell, a book that explores the colonization of the self by capitalist ideas of productivity and efficiency and how to reclaim acts of leisure. My interest in this book was spurred by asking: will I ever be truly satisfied? As someone with a boatload of ambition and drive, with every goal I fulfill, do I just keep creating new ones? Will I ever be happy with what is?
With this question in the back of my mind, I find myself straddling the line between my desire to succeed and my gratitude for what is. On the one hand, success feels good. It’s exciting being the best at something not everyone can do. But that feeling is temporary. I often wonder what life would be like if instead of power, money, and success, there is purpose in our pleasure. In our ability to connect, feel, and love as one singular unit. A concept so basic in nature yet complex in actuality.
On days when looking at the screen pains me, I dream of a life where I spend my time gardening, writing, and cooking with my love. Where the only screen I interact with is the one on the wall playing reruns of The Office and Love Island. I know it’s possible because people existed before the smartphone. Before our worth and productivity got so tangled like a forgotten necklace in a bag. As people, we are meant to be surrounded by community, but not one made of pixels and swipes. But a real one where we know our neighbors and care for them like our kin.
It is in this dream that I can feel peace. And not only for myself but for everyone. It is a world where our collectivism is rooted in compassion, clarity, and kindness. Where oneness with the planet is the end all be all.
But how do we get there? How can we go back to the days of coexisting with the planet without greed or war? In Buddhism, there are three marks of existence: impermanence (anicca), suffering or dissatisfaction (dukkha), and not-self (anatta). While I could write plenty on all three, I want to focus on the first one, impermanence: the belief that nothing is permanent, including our lives. When I first learned about this, it made sense. Everything that lives also dies. But then my psyche gets involved; I start to get attached. If everything that lives also dies, then what is the point of living at all?
This is the question that popped into my head last night as I sat on my balcony writing this letter in my journal, the sun warming my congested t-zone as the siren and seagulls sing. The mountains hide beneath the august sun. If I was in Nashville, I bet I could hear the cicadas harmonizing.
As I sit and take in this moment, the answer is clear. Even though everything ends eventually, the end is not now. So instead, I sit and accept what is and feel gratitude for another chance to breathe life into the chaos of our world. As humans we choose to suffer whenever we attach ourselves to temporary emotions, holding onto them like waves that roll in with the summer storm, heavy and plump. The sky can feel their weight. But as it always does, it will pass.
“People suffer because they are caught in their views. As soon as we release those views, we are free and we don't suffer anymore.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
I am lucky to have seen and felt the beauty that this world has to offer. Which is how I bring myself to understand impermanence. Everything that is will end. But until that happens, everything still is. And it is with that IS where freedom and peace can be found. All it takes is putting the damn phone away and being in the present moment.
Special Shoutouts / Announcements:
While there is no new podcast episode today, I was a guest on the SGN Radio podcast where host Ash and I talked about Judaism, mental health, cats, and more! Check it out here.
I got a beautiful bracelet from my dear friend Hayley while I was at the peak of my covid last week. Wearing it every day reminds me that I am loved and perfect exactly as I am. It also reminds me that all I can control is myself. Thank you Hayley!
My friend Alex Quetzali took some beautiful new family pictures a few weeks back that I haven’t posted anywhere so I wanted to share them with you all here. #exclusivecontent
Things I like right now:
I am loving Hippeas right now! It’s a vegan white cheddar organic chickpea puff snack. So delicious.
OMG Love Island anyone?? Here is my prediction for the final three: Davide and Etkin-Su, Gemma and Luca, and Dami and Indiyah. Will any of them work in the real world, who knows. But I hope so!
Been having a lot of fun unplugging to focus on art. Here’s my latest painting WIP. It will eventually be a fish lol.
I can’t stop listening to Maggie Rogers latest album, Surrender. It makes me feel SO GOOD.
Anyways, that’s all for today. I have a new story coming this week for Byrdie, as well as my first Ask Izzy column! So stay tuned.
Thank you for your never ending love and support. If you enjoyed this note, please share and tell your friends!