Nothing teaches you impermanence better than small children. Smiling one second, crying the next one. And they got sick so fast. Yesterday we put Keita, our recently adopted child, to sleep, and he was fine. Around midnight he started to cry out loud, with some fever. It was our first medical emergency at home and we weren’t prepared. So I hit the streets, nervous and anxious, looking for a pharmacy. While I walked lots of images of terrible diseases start to cross my mind, plus I start looking at the few people I met on the streets as if they were criminals trying to steal my wallet.
Fortunately, there is always Zen. I took a deep breath and concentrate on my steps, as if I were doing walking meditation. I relaxed rapidly and then it got deeper and deeper and I was in a very focused state, one of my best meditations in months.
In case you were wondering the kid is fine. I got some paracetamol for small children we gave some drops to him and in less than an hour he was in deep sleep. The next day he was the same laughing and playful Keita.
In a sense, that night walk to the pharmacy taught me more about impermanence than any book so far.