Last spring, I began to notice cherry blossoms.
I had always been aware of them, but never truly AWARE of them.
For what felt like the first time, I noticed their intricacy, their delicacy and of course, their beauty. I began to appreciate their existence and as the days passed, I also began to feel a sense of sadness for their inevitable decline.
For the past year, I’ve been thinking about cherry blossoms a lot.
Why did I not notice them before?
Why did I feel the aforementioned sense of sadness when they began to fall?
Why did cherry blossoms, of all things, keep popping up in my head?
A few months ago, I came across the Japanese concept of “mono no aware”, which, if translated and interpreted into its simplest form, means to have an appreciation for the impermanence of life.
It entails acknowledgment that everything is temporary, that life is fleeting, and although this initially stirs a sense of internal sadness and perhaps even despair, it is the stimulus for awareness to awaken, and through that awareness, a deep sense of gratitude emerges.
Interestingly enough, cherry blossoms are one of the best examples of mono no aware. Every year, they bloom, sharing their brilliance with anyone who is willing to appreciate it, and then they fade away. They are present for just a few short weeks, but in those few weeks, they give us an opportunity to bask in their beauty and take in the message that the universe is trying to convey to us through them.
As a believer in the concept of Oneness, I know that despite all divides society creates and we internalize, we have more in common with each other than we think. There is a connectedness which binds all humans, and zooming out further, everything in this world and beyond. We are all linked, and excellent proof of this is our mortality.
Guru Nanak says, “Jo din aavai so din jaasi,”which translates to “each day that comes will also go.”
Just like the day begins and ends, each of us was born, and one day, each of each of us will die.
Like the cycle of day and night, life is a cycle of birth and death.
In a sense, we’re all cherry blossoms and like cherry blossoms, all of us will one day complete our cycle.
We don’t have to delve deep into scripture to find reminders of this, it’s embedded in our everyday language.
Countless times, I’ve heard the term “oh poora hogiya”, meaning “he is complete”, when referring to the passing of someone.
We don’t say he died, we say he’s complete. Woven into the use of this term is a reminder of mono no aware, the impermanence of life, and also the acknowledgement and that life is a cycle we are all participants in, no matter how unaware we are.
“Rain gavaai soye kai, divas gavaaya khaae.”
These words of Guru Nanak translate to “The night gets spent sleeping, and the day in consumption.”
Unawareness is what blinds us, and each of us is guilty of this in our own way.
I’ve been blessed with countless moments where I’ve had the opportunity to appreciate life through a magnificent sunrise or breathtaking sunset, yet I’ve been too distracted to notice.
I’ve been surrounded by people who are important to me and are a big part of my life, but instead of appreciating that the moment is a gift which will never be replicated and will one day be one I look back at with fondness and nostalgia, I’ve been absent. Although present physically, my mind has been elsewhere, lost in a thought about something completely irrelevant, yet something I’ve let take control of my mind.
I’ve taken a lot of things for granted, instead devoting precious time to worrying about things I can’t control.
I’ve walked or driven past cherry blossoms for decades and acknowledged their existence by virtue of what I saw, having been too consumed by my own thoughts to truly acknowledge them for what they truly were and that which they symbolized.
Reflecting more broadly, I haven’t always appreciated the cherry blossoms I have surrounding me in day to day life.
Something as simple as cherry blossoms is a message from the universe to shift:
From unawareness to awareness.
From distraction to presence.
From worry to gratitude.
Perhaps above all, they serve as a reminder of the concept of “hukam”, or the divine order of the universe.
The cherry blossoms, like us and all those we care for, are here temporarily, and like them, when our time comes, we will depart.
Although I am by no means a master of this and like any human being, getting lost in the distractions and chaos of the world, reminding myself to appreciate the cherry blossoms in my life, both literal and figurative, serves as an opportunity to reset and focus on the things that truly matter.
This year, when cherry blossom season came, I was ready. Each time I saw them, I took a moment to take a breath, be in their presence and accept their reminder of the impermanence of life as per mono no aware, and of embracing hukam with love and surrender.
When we accept everything is temporary, everything becomes that much more special, and we truly become aware.
“If only we could see that the cherry blossoms are beautiful because they fall.”
— Motoori Norinaga
