This Too Shall Pass
I recently watched a brief but powerful clip of a conversation with Tom Hanks and a group of famous actors. During the talk, Tom Hanks shares his philosophy that “this too shall pass”. He explains that during our highest highs and our lowest lows, this too shall pass. Nothing is permanent (watch the 2 minute video here). This way of thinking protects us from despair and arrogance. I appreciate the reminder of the impermanence of things. As someone who suffers from anxiety, I fall prey to the dangers of “permanence, pervasiveness and personalization”. If something bad is happening, I worry it will never end, that it is BIG and affects my whole life, and that it is my fault. These mind games are what exacerbate our suffering. And when you consider Tom’s advice, you can mistakenly use the three Ps when things are going well too. Your good luck will last forever, affect all areas of your life and you get all the credit. Believing this will only make the inevitable fall from grace more painful.
Even within the over two years of Covid, we can use the “this too shall” pass idea. It feels permanent, but there have been many ebbs and flows with this pandemic. Remember in the beginning when we were cleaning the packages we brought home from the grocery store? Remember when we didn’t realize masks work? Remember when we didn't have vaccines or boosters and potential covid pills to help with fighting the virus if we get infected on the horizon? Although the discomfort of uncertainty has been present, the degree of that uncertainty has moved up and down, giving us some moments to catch our breath along the way. Many of us implemented personal strategies to alleviate the stress: baking bread, zooming with friends, reading books, watching Netflix. These new routines were small blooms in the middle of the frozen tundra. All of these things helped remind us that this too shall pass.
How do we incorporate this mantra into our life? How can we truly believe and feel grounded in the idea that “this too shall pass”? We can begin by taking a lesson from the seasons. One of the reasons I love living in a place with the four seasons is that I am constantly reminded of the cycle of life. There are moments when things are blooming, energetic and exciting and there are times when things are dark and cold. I am reading (for the second time) the book Wintering by Katherine May. She describes winter as a season that can occur in two ways. It is a season that predictably falls after Autumn and winter is also a set of conditions that can come at any time. “Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider….. However it arrives, wintering is usually involuntary, lonely and deeply painful….. Yet it’s also inevitable.” But we also know that spring follows winter, and this is the perspective Tom reminds us to embrace.
We can see that seasons come and go both literally and figuratively. This too shall pass reminds us of our humanness. Middle school drama does eventually end, we come out of a deep depression, we survive a flare up of a chronic condition, we move on after a painful divorce, we get another job after we are fired, we survive rejection from a job, a person or a school. This too shall pass.
Tom has brought up a phrase that we may think of as cliche and reminded us of the genius in it. When life is terrible, when life is amazing and everything in-between, this too shall pass.
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Photo by Aline de Nadai on Unsplash
