The Mindfulness Blog

The great Nat King Cole first recorded the classic song in 1934, and almost 40 years later, it was re-recorded by Rod Stewart. I've never been a big fan of Rod the Mod, but I love the fact that he chose to revive such a wonderful song-- the melody is tremendous, and the lyrics really resonate, for me.

For some, it's just a modern version of Shakespeare's, "Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may", but I hear a sadness and a genuine regret, for the passing of the moment. I also hear a bit of acceptance that life (and love), are impermanent.

By way of contrast, George Harrison's song, "All Things Must Pass" strikes a much different tone. Stripped of sentimentality, it is a veritable paean to impermanence-- something we all know, and hear about often. The only thing consistent in life is change, or as we say here, in Chicago, if you don't like the weather, just stick around for a minute.

That's the beauty of mindfulness and meditation. The former is a state of being that comes and goes with each moment, and the latter is a practice that reminds me of how important it is to get back to that state of being. It also helps build the "muscle memory" needed to skillfully recognize, and avoid, attachment. That helps me let things go-- develop some much needed perspective-- with a bit more ease.

Exercising what I refer to as the, "let it go muscle" makes it so much easier to deal with challenging circumstances or difficult conversations, not to mention dealing with our own thoughts and emotions. But we need to train ourselves appropriately, in order to handle all of that with some degree of grace and composure-- all of us-- especially lawyers.

For all I know, I may never master the passing nature of things, but I'm sure going to keep trying!