Being with change

by Ella Sloss - July 5, 2025

As I began my journey to Copenhagen, I felt untethered. It had only been a month since the Contemplative Semester ended, and I was leaving behind the intentional container that had held me so fully. Now, I was surrounded by unfamiliar faces, in a city speaking a language I didn’t understand. The study abroad program offered a few tools—but then we were on our own. I felt more independent than I ever had, and simultaneously, more unsure. I worried I would never find something like CS again. I kept asking myself: How would I hold the memories and wisdom from that time while stepping into such a different space?

And then I remembered the teachings on ease and compassion—on offering ourselves gentleness in hard moments. Maybe I didn’t need to grip tightly to every insight from CS. Maybe I could let the memories return in their own time, softly and gently.

I remembered how much I loved journaling during CS—the day my friends and I spread a picnic blanket, wrote letters home, and journaled. So, I made time abroad to journal again, using it as a mindfulness practice to stay present. The worries didn’t always disappear, but I was able to greet them with more intention and kindness.

Zac’s lesson on “sit spots” came back to me too—how choosing a place in nature could open us to the interdependence of all things, and the deep ways we are connected to the earth. In Copenhagen, I found my way to Frederiksberg Gardens and chose a tree that became a quiet source of support. Even halfway across the world, the teachings from CS continued to meet me.

Cooking also became a grounding practice. My friends and I tested endless vegetarian bean recipes, picked up delicious pastries, and gathered weekly to cook together. In a way, it felt like our own kind of sangha, or Buddhist practice group—letting go of our phones (except for a recipe), making space for being present with each other, and truly connecting.

Through new countries, new friendships, and the internal work of adapting to an unfamiliar environment, I kept remembering a core CS teaching: what’s happening right now is just as it is meant to be. I practiced letting go of the “should’ves” and the urge to fix or change the moment. I let myself hold both awe and joy, fear and anxiety—and meet it all with compassion.

I wondered: what if this semester abroad didn’t need to be perfect? What if its gift was teaching me how to be with change, in all its complexity?

As I softened and returned home to myself, the practices of CS returned, in a more embodied way. In the beginning, I tried to cling to the experience of CS. Now I’ve learned that these practices are still with me, through all that I do, and to let them come back to me gently.