“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus
That phrase used to seem “cool” to me, but grasping it’s meaning hovered somewhere around the edges of my gray matter. Initially, it just made sense that yes, everything changes. And as a river flows one direction, if I step into it at the same spot off the bank, it is not the same, as I am literally stepping into different water.
Along the way, Heraclitus’ quote began to resonate on a different level. I began to go deeper with this concept, and started recognizing that every moment of every day, it’s not just that things around me are changing, but those things are changing me—much like the bed and banks of a river cannot remain unchanged from the flowing of the water.
Change is one of those things in life that is inevitable. It happens in subtle ways, and it can show up as big, huge life occurrences. Both often have an equally profound effect.
I remember during my college days in Nebraska, one spring 3 tornados came ripping through the area. The spot where they converged was devastated. Trees downed, huge ditches permanently dug into the middle of the field, debris scattered for miles.
One of my art professors took us out to the site, to bear witness to what Mother Nature had dished out. It was as if the paintings we’d previously done from that spot were made up images, as the landscapes we had captured in watercolor no longer existed. His comment was “This land is forever changed.”
Life can be like that. Things happen and the landscape of your life is forever changed—a layoff, death of a loved one or bad customer service. On the flip side, it can also look like a new business venture, birth of a child or receiving a note of encouragement at just the right moment.
These changes can alter your internal landscape, too. They shape your belief systems (often by challenging old ones), your thinking, and your values.
When that happens, the essence of who you are may remain, but how you move through life may begin to change. Think back 10 or 20 years ago. Do you hold the same beliefs, values or priorities you did then? Chances are at least some have shifted, having been shaped by changes big and small.
Change isn’t always met with open arms and a smile. It can be difficult, painful. It may toss you about, leaving you feeling dazed and confused. Years ago, my husband told me the story of the buffalo. It is said the buffalo is the only creature who, when a storm comes, rather than run from the wind’s constant howling and beating at its back, it will head directly into the storm. Maybe on some instinctual level the buffalo knew that to head into the storm it would pass by more quickly. So when life’s big changes happen that seem difficult to traverse, I like to think of the buffalo.
Not all change is something you might label as ‘bad’ and some events are so subtle, you might not even recognize them as agents of change. But good, bad, subtle or glaringly obvious, change is inevitable.
When events make a profound impact on you and you begin to shift and change, are you the same person? Yes, just different. Much like Heraclitus’ river. Ever changing, never the same. But always fully you. ;