In my last post I talked about the philosophies of Heraclitus and how he incorporated this into his daily life. In this post I plan to talk about how I have used these same thoughts to guide me through my life.
There have been many things that I have been faced with in my life that have caught me off guard or made me think, “Why is this happening to me?” I’ve always been anxious about the future and worried about how each decision I make will affect me, but after learning about Heraclitus’s philosophies I have been able to overcome my struggles and make sense of this thing we call life.
Panta Rhei/Ta panta rhei kai ouden menei
To me, the translation of this phrase (“everything flows” or “everything flows, nothing stands still”) means not only that everything is constantly changing and in flux, but that we should go with the flow of the change. The way that I am able to incorporate this idea into my life is by not sweating the small stuff. It’s taken me years of experience, practice and growing up to reach this point, but I don’t think the concept really clicked until I studied Heraclitus.
My freshman year, my parents ended up splitting up and I was forced to be in the middle of a pretty nasty divorce. At the time, I let it control my life and completely consume my entire being because I had the mindset that the world was out to get me and that life just wasn’t fair. I was mad at the world and in denial that my life was going to be changing forever and ended up creating more stress for myself. Being in denial about change instead of adapting to it caused me to fall behind in every aspect of my life. Now, when I reflect on the situations that I was faced with, I realize that I have carried the lessons that I’ve learned over into my life decisions and used these lessons to better adapt to future situations. I’m able to recognize that conflict in life is inevitable and that if I can recognize an issue early, then I can prepare myself for what is to come. Similar to what I said in my previous post about floating down a river; you can either ignore the rocks and logs and complain when you get hit in the head, or you can be prepared for the bumpy road ahead and adapt to the situation.
The idea that change is inevitable doesn’t just apply to the situations that I face in life, but also to me, as a growing and learning being. This way of looking at the phrase is kind of uplifting and empowering for me because it’s a reminder that each moment and each day is another chance to reinvent myself and change the things that I want to change. The state of flux that we are constantly in helps shape us and influence the way we do everything. If you ignore the whirlwind of things happening around you, how will you ever advance? If you don’t make sense of the change happening around you or within you, it’s like living in denial because it’s going to happen whether you want it to or not.
This phrase has actually impacted my life and the way I cope with everything so deeply that I plan on getting it as a tattoo. I plan to have waves in the background with the phrase written in Greek or cursive letters within the waves.
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