No feeling is final

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.
Rainer Maria Rilke

I heard this poem while listening to a Pema Chodron audio on Spotify, which I have been doing for the last several months on my morning commute. This practice of starting my day with wisdom and laughter (she is actually really funny) has been really good for me.

Pema describes the quote as one of the most valuable teachings on impermanence ever written.

I have to agree

Especially this part:

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.

In moments of pain or frustration (aka 3 minute plank in gym class), I remember “this feeling won’t last”

In moments of bliss(aka finding another love note on the typewriter from Che), I remember “this feeling won’t last”

I am learning to live in each moment, fully

I am learning to relax with it, to observe and to be grateful to simply be alive and ride this roller coaster we call life

Today I went for a run downtown on my lunch break

Passing strangers, noticing the clouds above me and the road below me

The ever changing grade and change in surroundings is why I love to run outside.

Treadmills bore me and I refuse to spend my exercise time on them

And today I realized why

It’s all about the shifting

Without change life would feel like living in a cardboard box with no air or light

I am grateful for both daily dissatisfactions and blissful moments

They keep things fresh and point me to my purpose on this earth

To connect and love

What a beautiful awareness

Ironically I know a new day will come and I will forget these lessons

But it’s just an opportunity to discover it again

And again

The joy really is in the journey