Sharing Space

We recently took a short holiday to Cornwall and each day on the beach my son and I attempted to build a bigger sandcastle than our previous efforts.

We spent nearly all day crafting increasingly elaborate creations, which were all destroyed a matter of hours later by the incoming tide. Looking around the beach, there would always be dozens of families doing the same as us - spending hours building their own extravagant sandscapes, completely aware and accepting that it would be gone by the end of the day. This eventuality seemingly had no bearing on how much joy they were obtaining through the process.

On the last day, it struck me as a great lesson on the nature of impermanence. Whenever I usually think about this topic, my mind automatically goes to the deepest, existential examples - like our own impermanence, which I can struggle to accept, especially when playing with my 5-year-old.

It was a nice reminder that so many of the joyful little things in life are also impermanent, and perhaps more joyful given how short their existence. We never felt sad about our creations crumbling down, no matter how long we had spent building them.

I will try and approach my life a little more like a sandcastle - crafting it as beautifully as possible, regardless of the incoming tide 🌊