Change

He who binds himself to a joy,

does the winged life destroy;

he who kisses the joy as it flies,

lives in eternity's sunrise.

I found this poem by William Blake in a book I’m reading called “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”. It’s a really good book about teachings of Buddhism, the impermanence of everything in life, how we are all connected and how we must show love and compassion to everyone and in everything we do. This poem really stuck out to me because I’ve been binding myself to things that bring me joy for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been so scared of change when things were good because I didn’t want the good to go away. But I’ve learned that things always change. You can’t stop it, the good will come and go just as the bad will come and go. All we can do is enjoy the good while we have it and be thankful we had it at all once it’s gone. 

This has been really helpful in my dealing with Isabel’s death. I was so stuck on the fact that she was gone that I couldn’t even think about all the awesome times I had with her and all the things she taught me. I was binding myself to the thought of Isabel being here with me as a person, and it was only making things worse because I knew she wasn’t coming back. But I’ve realized that just because she’s gone from this world, doesn’t mean she’s gone forever. I will always have the memories of my time with her and I know she’s still with me. All I can do is appreciate the moments we shared and continue with my life, living with compassion, care and love just like Isabel did.