The Wisdom of Water
Posted on February 18, 2012 by Willie LaBonne, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
The qualities of water are simply awesome! Read this article and see how you can be like water. It can change your life for the better. Try it!
I was thinking today about water. I was contemplating how I could be more like water. I am not a good swimmer and every time I tried to swim fast I always tried to “muscle” my way through. Needless to say, this is why I am not a good swimmer. Have you noticed that the great swimmers seem to just glide on top of the water? It seems as if there is no effort in what they’re doing. They become one with the water. They accept it and welcome it instead of trying to muscle it or fight it.
I remember about 5-6 years ago Jay, my husband, was doing the Racine ½ Ironman Triathlon. That morning Lake Michigan was angry and there were huge waves everywhere. The swim looked insane, just like a washing machine. Grown men were holding on to the buoys literally crying. Jay on the other hand, had one of the fastest swims. Instead of fighting the current and the waves, he just relaxed and let the waves take him… When the water went up, he went up, when the water went down, he went down… Do you see a pattern here that we can all apply to our lives? Why do we have to try to be so much in control? Why do we have to muscle our way through things? “I want this now!” the more we try to get it and muscle our way through, the harder it is to get what we want. We make life a struggle when it doesn’t have to be.
The great teacher Lao Tzu said “the highest good is like water.” What exactly did he mean by that? Let’s see…
Water is soft, flexible, and shapeless, yet can be shaped by any holder. It is light and weak, yet it can wear away rock. It’s peaceful and tranquil, but it can be strong and powerful if it wants to. Even if water cannot go through obstacles, it goes around them. There’s absolutely no place that water cannot go… (Reminds me of the presence of God.) And what happens to us? The harder to we try to get a hold of it and grab it, the less we manage to obtain it. Yet, the moment we relax and let it flow, this water is ours for the taking…
Yes, today I was learning from the wisdom of the water and reminding myself to let go of my control, to be flexible, and to believe that like water, I have all the strength that I need to get through anything… To reach my highest good I need the love and peace within me to come out and seep through anything and everything in my life. I just need to trust that the more I let go and flow, the more I can be of service and I can truly enjoy life. Who knows???Maybe swimming is in my future. Can you too be more like water?
