One of my favorite wooded areas to walk in has a beautiful winding stream next to a walking path. Hardly anyone goes there so it’s a wonderful place to find some solitude and peace. One day as I was sitting by the bank of the stream, a small voice spoke in my head and whispered “Be Like the Water”. I looked at the flowing stream for a while trying to understand the message. I watched as the water flowed on its path, coming up against small obstacles – a fallen tree, various large rocks, and overgrown bushes reaching out and into the stream. But no matter what came in its way, the water was unfazed. It simply flowed around, under, or over the obstacle.
I then understood.
The stream was displaying non-attachment in action. The water did not resist what came in its way, its purpose was to flow onward, and it felt no need to have its purpose hindered by things in its path. It would simply, efficiently, and fluidly find its way around and through whatever arose. The obstacles were temporary, the water’s destiny was permanent and everlasting.
Our minds, alas, are often not so tranquil and clear in the course of their journey. I wonder if this is why so many of us are attracted to streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans. These bodies of water display the confident and uninterruptable nature of fluid motion that we all would like to achieve. Our minds on the other hand can easily become disturbed – by our own thoughts, by other people, by our environment, and by constantly arising new circumstances. It’s hard not to react to these things.
But what would the water do?
Flowing water feels no need to stay within the field of resistance. We on the other hand often feel that we need to push back against resistance – to engage with it, to ensure that we are right and the other person wrong, that we win. It’s the ego in full bloom. The water does not have an ego. It just knows it’s water, and its purpose in that stream, is to flow.
Could we do the same?
In daily life, to flow like water, would be to feel as if we are observing without judging, absorbing without being weighed down, and experiencing without being damaged. We would look at issues and problems in our personal and professional lives differently. When confronted with a difficult task, we would (as the water does) move fluidly into problem solving mode. Many times, however, we spend too much time enmeshed in the emotion and potential negative scenarios surrounding our daily challenges. Water does not care for such mind games. It simply sees obstacle, and alters its path to achieve its objective. Or, better yet, it doesn’t even see an obstacle, just temporary arising phenomena. No need to panic, just keep flowing.
~Jay Kshatri
www.ThinkSmarterWorld.com
