Whether a change is expected or not, life itself is always in motion. Which means we’re always in transition.

The minutes go by, day turns to night, seasons roll along, the night sky is in constant movement. Our cells turn over every 7 years. The heart is continuously pumping blood to the lungs which are continually adding oxygen to the blood. Populations rise and fall. Leadership changes. Technology advances. Nothing is static.

And yet we are attachment prone. We humans attach to our homes and cars, our health and our stuff. We connect to ideas and emotions, opinions and feelings. We bond ourselves to people, pets, countries, values and truths. This is part of what it means to be a human being. We are attachment-prone beings living in a world that is in perpetual motion.

This paradox invites us to pay attention to the uncertainty inherent in life and learn to live in concert with it. It summons curiosity over knowing. It asks us to soften instead of hardening. It requires that we develop the skills of self-compassion, deep listening and gentle care with ourselves and others as we stop gripping or pushing so hard. And it calls on us to have more gratitude, kindness and generosity because these heal pain (ours and others’) as we actualize the greater possibilities of being human.

In this class we will explore living with uncertainty in times of transition—the skills, challenges and benefits.