Anitya: The Gentle Practice of Letting Change Be
Written by Charlie Rao, MS, LPC
Originally published by Charlie Rao. Read more of her work on Medium.
Change has a way of quietly reshaping our lives long before we’re ready to name it. In therapy, I often notice how much energy we spend trying to hold on — to people, to certainty, to the versions of ourselves that once fit so comfortably. Yet, Anitya, the Sanskrit word for impermanence, reminds us that everything is already moving, shifting, softening, evolving. We may recognize Anitya more easily in the familiar phrase, “This too shall pass.”
Different language, same truth — that no season, no feeling, no hardship is permanent. Everything is temporary. Sadness is temporary. Happiness is temporary. Laughter is temporary.
And that allows us to remember that even in our lowest depths, in our deepest pains — it’s temporary too. The ache will shift, the storm will soften, and light will find its way back in, quietly and on its own time.
Impermanence isn’t a threat; it’s an invitation. It teaches us that the ache of loss and the joy of becoming are not opposites — they are part of the same breath. When we stop resisting change, even slightly, we start to find peace within it. The edges soften. What once felt like an ending begins to reveal itself as transformation.
Over time, I’ve learned that we can either have our mind control us — or we can learn to guide it. After years, even decades, of living inside cycles of worry and rumination, I began to find my way back through practice. Meditation helped, yes, but so did the simple, steady rhythm of mindful mantras — gentle repetitions that became like light through the dark.
For me, the word Anitya has become that light — a quiet mantra, a reminder that nothing stays, nothing is lost forever, and everything, somehow, transforms.
If you’re reading this and something in your life feels uncertain or undone, take a breath.
This too is part of the unfolding — not a sign that you’ve failed, but that you’re alive, and life is still teaching you how to flow.
