The Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery are visiting my home town this week. They are carefully and patiently creating a colorful Mandela with colored sands meticulously placed over the course of a week. And when they are done, they will deconstruct their work and throw the sand into the local Wabash river.
They do so to provide a lesson in impermanence. It is a lesson for all of us. We tend to think that as it is, so will it be. Forever and ever.
We experience 10% growth, and we project that growth curve for years to come. We provide a good or service that our customers love and we believe that they will love it for as long as we care to produce it. We have success in something and we believe we are infallible.
It works in the other direction too. We hit a slump and we think we’ll never work our way out of it. We have a bad experience with a person or product, and we cross them off the list. We lose money in our business and get discouraged and depressed.
The wisdom of impermanence reminds us that the bad times will get better. It also cautions us that good times should be celebrated, as they too will not last.
Thinking otherwise can keep those who have done well in a state of false security – think how long it took the Big 3 to understand that things had changed, or how much of the real estate bust was based on people assuming home values would always appreciate. This thinking can also derail those who get “stuck” or depressed or unable to move forward in bad times. Teams on a losing streak can stay there for years.
Reconciling with the impermanence of all things – physical, emotional, societal – can both offer encouragement when you are down, and grounding when you are flying high.
