I once heard a Zen monk say that all our suffering comes from resisting one simple fact: everything is changing, all the time.

Think about your life situation in this moment: the good and the bad, and the ugly. Whoops! Now it’s different. While you were thinking, everything around you got a few seconds older.

What we think of as “my life,” stable and solid, is in fact a flowing river. The banks may look the same, but the water is always, always, always changing.

I was stunned when something told me, “Move to the woods in California.” But by then, I was old enough to trust that inner voice. So I bought a truly enchanted and enchanting ranch in California.

Thought I’d stay forever; after all, didn’t the magic send me? Yes, it did. And then it decided to send me somewhere else.

Life flows like a river. I’ve learned not to cling to any spot on the bank, no matter how lovely. Moving is wonderful practice for allowing flow. I’ve had a chance to look at every object I own and ask, “Do I really need this? Do I really want it?” The answer, I’ve found, is usually “No.” Bless you, Goodwill! I’m moving on with a much lighter burden of stuff.

In the midst of this, the wonderful Master Coach Abigail Steidley, who has been a beloved and vital part of my company for years, felt her own need to move on. Knowing how well she does magic, we’re all letting that current go where it chooses. Ab, my admiration, affection, and thanks for you are boundless. And love flows.

The river of our lives flows away from some things, right into other things. Each present moment is the point where time intersects with eternity. There, all experience is present, because the whole river of time flows through eternity. All memory, all perception, all presentiments of future, everything we have ever loved or will ever love is intimately available—but only In.This.Moment.

As my life flows, as your life flows, we can tune into presence and find connection—not flimsy, mind-made, let’s-pretend connection, but true oneness. That’s the reality we like to call “magic,” although it’s far more real than the losses we seem to suffer.

Thank you all for being part of my tribe. Let’s continue to let this amazing river take us wherever we are meant to go.