A quote from the new book by Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, which is  a profound reflection on the Satipatthana Sutta, one of the foundational texts in mindfulness meditation. Here he suggests a practice to help us get a real understanding of impermanence, to see directly the truth of change and in that way gain a helpful perspective on how to deal with the ups and downs of a day:

When we pay attention, we see that everything is disappearing and new things are arising, not only every day or hour but in every moment. When we leave our house, or simply walk from one room to another, can we notice this flow of changing experience – the flow of visual forms as we move, different sounds, changing sensations in the body, fleeting thoughts or images? What happens to each of these experiences? Do they last? The truth of their changing nature is so ordinary that we have mostly stopped noticing it at all.

photo mx