Be Flexible With Difficulty

The power of water..making its way through cracks...adjusting to the crack...finding its way around it or through it. Think of yourself moving like water. Water can give you the insight you're searching for and remind you that you have the strength and power deep within your soul/spirit...to accomplish anything you set your mind to...to be anything you want to be...to overcome anything that may stand in your way or prevent you from moving forward.

Formless and shapeless like water...the substance that has so many answers for you. I have always been so fascinated with the power of water and everything it stands for...I want to share a couple of interesting points with you.

Water is known as the blood of the earth...flowing through its veins. It is something that has complete faculties. Accumulated in Heaven and Earth...stored up in the various things of the world. Comes forth in metal and stone...and concentrated in living creatures. This wondrous element is said to be something very spiritual. While many believe that what will transform the world lies in water.

So...I know what you are thinking...what does this have to do with me and my life? Well, everything. The answer is in WATER. :)

I want to share a small story that will hopefully enlighten you. A seventeen-year old boy decides to go sailing on his boat to think and to be alone. He was having some difficulty finding the ways to overcome life's challenges... difficulty in learning to understand, difficulty in utilizing the force/energy of any challenge to his own advantage. He had to learn to forget himself and just follow the challenge's movement. To let his mind do the countermovement without deliberation...to just RELAX. For example, in order to learn how to effectively sail, you must LEARN TO USE, NOT OPPOSE, the forces of wind and water.

So as he sat in his boat he got so upset and so frustrated with himself that he punched at the water with all of his might...and it was at this moment his AWAKENING BEGAN. "I struck it just now, but it did not suffer hurt. Again I stabbed at it with all my might, yet it was not wounded. I then tried to grasp a handful of it, but it was impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, could fit itself into any container. Although it seemed weak, it could penetrate the hardest substances in the world. I wanted to be like the nature of water," the boy stated. In order to UNDERSTAND YOURSELF,  you must first ACCEPT YOURSELF by going with and not against your nature. 

Water is so malleable that it is impossible to grasp a handful of it, and when struck it is impossible to hurt. It was at once both pure Yin...One of the softest, most yielding substances in the world. And pure Yang...it could also penetrate the hardest forms of matter. It can be calm like the still surface of a pond, or turbulent and violent, like Niagara Falls.

The nature of water is to ADAPT itself instantly to any obstacle in its path, by moving at its OWN PACE, and BEGIN a natural process of surmounting it. Does this sound familiar to you? Be like water...if you can learn to flow with adversity, you will eventually overcome it!! And it is only through our flowing with life that we are able to ADAPT and GROW.

Remember, life is MOVEMENT...and if you cease to flow with it, it will pass you by. Like Bruce Lee once said, "Running water never grows stale. So you've got to just "keep on flowing."

Little, J. The Warrior Within. 1996. 43-48.