I had decided when I first heard of this phenomenon called powder coated rims that I wanted green ones. Lime-ish green ones. Lime-ish green to match my company logo.
I took my silver Ford Edge to a client who is a master at this service and he looked at me and asked “are you sure?”
I was.
One of my best friends asks me frequently how I can quickly choose things – whether it’s a table, a design for our home, furniture, hair color, hair cuts, or rim colors. I’ve been contemplating how it is I can quickly choose most things (now, where to go for dinner is another ordeal entirely).
I swim in the water of impermanence and therefore choices like green rims don’t deter me from committing to them. My partner asked me “What if we want to sell the Edge?” My response was “Maybe the buyer will like green or maybe we’ll just powder coat them back.” I don’t even know if this is a thing one can do but I believe that anything is possible and even if it isn’t, does it really even matter? It absolutely thrills me to see my green rims – like over the moon joy. Why would I give that up in order to make it more sell-able to someone else? Life is too short to avoid the bold choices that bring us delight.
I acknowledge that nothing is forever; that nothing is permanent.
My mother is a Theravada Buddhist. I was raised by her and my Christian father. I think that the notion of impermanence seeped into my being from my multi cultural upbringing. I was lucky but I’m not special. This approach to life is available to us all. According to Tricycle, Buddhism for Beginners:
Everything changes.
This is one of the most fundamental teachings of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that the source of human suffering and discontent is that we crave and cling to the things of this world under the mistaken view that they will last forever. But nothing does.
Our bodies decline and decay. Hair and teeth fall out. Mental attitudes also change. Excitement and anger arise, then fade away. Our good health and happiness are only temporary; we will eventually sicken, age, and die, as will our friends, enemies, relatives, and strangers. Human life is brief.
I get that some people might think “Well if life is so impermanent, why make any commitments at all?” My response to that is to consider the brevity of life and how unfortunate it would be if the entire short time we breathe is unfulfilling. What if we lived our short lives as if they are a string of miraculous, magical moments? What could that look like? Rather than attachment to looking like everyone else or to stifling what thrills us or to prohibiting ourselves from being fully expressed out of the concern that we might thwart peoples’ impressions of us, what if we live committed to that which makes life worth living.
What if we love fiercely, deeply, unapologetically? What if we sing loudly, maybe terribly, maybe mess up the lyrics, but we sing anyway? What if we declare our commitments with gusto and align ourselves with our missions with dedication and passion? What if we choose boldly?
What would be possible for you in your life if you could choose with freedom, ease, and clarity? Try considering, for one decision, how fleeting and finite life is. Then see if acknowledging this impacts the boldness of your decision.
Choose the bright colors, the radical haircut, that piece of funky furniture – remember life is impermanent; none of it really matters anyway. Why not choose boldly?
