Everything Changes

“You're under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago.” - Alan Watts

I’ve changed a lot in the last few years.

Literally.

From my skin cells—which renew every 2–4 weeks—to my bones, made of living tissue that regenerate every 7–10 years, I’m an almost entirely different physical person than I used to be.

Everything inside, outside, and all around us is in a constant state of change. Our bodies. Our emotions. The weather. The economy. Our families. Our planet.

Everything is always in motion.

This is the concept of impermanence, known as anicca in Buddhism.

The paradox is how fiercely we resist change, and how much we suffer as a result.

It’s hard to override the feeling that we’re a fixed, stable self—like we’re made of stone, not living tissue.

But when we remember how everything is always shifting—when we remember that we are shifting, too—we can begin to see the freedom in that reality. 

The freedom to grow, adapt, and expand into new possibilities.

The Human Condition 

So much of our experience is shaped by forces beyond our awareness or control.

Impermanence and interconnection are foundational truths of existence. Everything changes and always in relation to everything else. 

But they’re invisible—happening in the background while our conscious minds cling to stability.

We move through life with a false sense of permanence and separation. This illusion is helpful—it allows our egos to build a narrative. To feel safe. To plan. To survive.

But it can also trap us in ways of being that no longer serve us.

We start believing that who we are is just who we are. That our patterns are permanent. That change is impossible.

Until something breaks. Or something wakes us up.

Or we reach a point, often somewhere in midlife, when we can no longer ignore the deeper pull of the mystery beneath it all.

Carl Jung said the first half of life is just research. It’s where we build the scaffolding of self, shaped mostly by ego.

The second half? That’s where the real questions begin.

That’s when we start wondering what it might mean to be free.

The Mind Resists

Interestingly, one of the few cells in our bodies that doesn’t regenerate is the neuron.

Which means while our bodies are constantly renewing, our minds tend to hold on.

Our beliefs calcify. Our mental habits solidify. Our stories become canon.

And our minds resist the natural aging of our bodies. We judge the lines, the slowness, the limitations. We long for the illusion of permanence.

We resist the moment our children begin to grow away from us.

We struggle to reimagine who we are when the roles we once held start to fade.

But what if we saw all of it—aging, transition, loss—not as decline, but as evolution?

What if impermanence isn’t something to fight, but something to trust?

I find this trust in meditation. 

When I slow all the way down to witness how my mind’s ceaseless chatter obscures the peace resting below. The peace that arises with each breath. 

This practice has been the key to bringing my mind along on the journey our body is always leading. 

Inspiration 

Nature models change for us not as loss, but as transformation.

As cycles of rebirth. And this same cycle is occurring inside of you right now as you read this. 

You are becoming an updated version of you.

We are not separate from this cycle. 

Deep down we know this to be true. When the soul stirs and seems to whisper to us when the ego isn’t looking …

“there’s so much more…you’ll see”

We feel it.

When the universe dances in the eyes of our partner as they smile at us. The flood of boundless love we feel embracing our child. 

A moment of gratitude for just being here to experience it. 

These fleeting and ineffable moments connect us to the truth. 

That our time in these bodies is short. That we can release the suffering of our past and embrace the awe and wonder at each beautiful moment of the present. 

On Easter Sunday, when so many around the world celebrate resurrection, let us be reminded:

We all have the power to be reborn.

Not someday. Not in the afterlife.

But right now.

That rebirth isn’t some far-off notion—it’s the inevitable reality of the present.

We are always changing. Always becoming.

And when we stop resisting that truth, we can break free from our ego’s cage and expand into the limitless power of creation that is our soul.

-Coach Kris

I listened to this conversation with Jeff Krasno this week which resurfaced the idea of impermanence. I felt an immediate resonance to that concept that has been shaped into this reflection.

Jeff also mentions his admiration for our mutual spiritual hero, Alan Watts. Few humans have ever expressed these big ideas more lucidly than Watts.