Life is changing. My lovely summer is ripening into colorful autumn. It will be gone too. The change is unavoidable and problematic, because it is constant and feels so volatile, fragile and insecure. I can freeze the past in a snap-shot and keep memory of it feeling safe there. But life is pushing and pouring new events and new vistas on me all the time. And I have to respond in some way to this unlimited abundance of life, this overpowering richness of information.
Intellect is of a great help in sorting all this information. It can organize chaotic events and experiences into some kind of tidy, logical and even beautiful stories. It can explain happenings and justify behaviors. It can suggest what actions to take to be safe and pacify fear of unknown for a while at least. So thinking has obviously an important role in a human life and development of civilizations. But the fact remains that life is unpredictable and controlling it is an illusion.
The constant labor of thinking needs a partner, a complementary helper in responding to life fully. I have found it in mindfulness meditation. Meditation allows me to go beyond the mind and its stories, to connect to life as it is happening in the here and now, to be present and to be aware of this presence. It allows me to feel safe. I meditate.