Cultivating Impermanence

 During our group discussion tonight after meditation, we talked about how we apply the idea of Master Sheng Yen's quote on impermanence, which I have noted below:

"If one is able to adeptly use the concept of impermanence, then one will live in the midst of the joy of fresh thoughts, peace at every moment, and continuous movement"

One of the insights I found from the group is how impermanence itself needs to be a habit that we almost need to remind ourselves. For instance: sometimes, we think that we know how to handle situations after talking about the theory, only to find that the situation comes up again--and very quickly, we fall back on a habitual way of dealing with it. The concept, on the one hand, is there, but that concept never touches upon the actual ground.
  To give an example: if I don't realize that cause and conditions only temporarily come together this moment to make things as they are, pretty soon, I am going to think there is some solid, permanent "thing" that moves and shapes things. I slip on ice and I think that something or someone "made me slip". Some people might even complain to God or blame karma for slipping, as though God or karma were the prime mover of all those things. I will thus have a tendency to think that something is doing it on purpose or making things a certain way. But when I think deeply about it, or at least from the perspective of impermanence, there isn't really even a solid self that is slipping on the ice. These conditions only temporarily come together. I might feel the pain of slipping and need to recover from it, but the feelings will certainly change over time.
   What's the opposite of impermanence? And does impermanence mean that one should always just be like a rock of equanimity? I don't think so at all. I think that impermanence allows for the flexibility to naturally respond to different conditions in ways that are spontaneous. The emotion is not something that I need take as "I" or as a sign or indication of whether I am good or not good. Instead, it too is a phenomena or a condition that is bound to arise and disappear based on cause and conditions. I need not cling to these emotions or be alarmed by them, or even judge myself based on them. So, this gives my emotions space to breathe without a sense of needing to judge the self based on their arising.