Water — How To Define What Is Truly Important In Your Life
Have you ever heard the expression ‘go with the flow’? Or ‘let it go’? This water metaphor is all about using life forces the right way to empower yourself.
Life Is A River
Imagine yourself being in the middle of a very large river. WHERE would you swim to get out?
Straight forward
Where the river is heading is unknown. It is the flow of life! Your future lies ahead and it tends to trigger anxiety.
Backward
Behind lies the place you come from. It is your past and it tends to trigger depression.
To the right or to the left
The shores are distant but visible. In between is the present moment and it tends to trigger inner peace.
Swimming In That River
Now that you chose your answer about where you would swim, let’s see HOW you could swim to get out.
Swimming forward
You will benefit from the river’s power. You can stay still for a while, save energy and advance. The unknown is scary though, but the answers lie somewhere ahead.
Swimming backward
No need to say that you will lose a lot of energy fighting the current. You will exhaust yourself and drown out of fatigue. Your past keeps you from moving. Don’t be stubborn.
Swimming to the left or to the right
If you go straight to a shore, you will also lose energy. Not like swimming backward, but still you will fight the water mass resistance and the current’s power. If you provoke a choice too quickly, you will waste energy and the outcome is more likely to be disapointing.
Swimming forward AND slightly to the left or to the right
While moving forward, you can wait for the right moment to reach the good shore. Swimming forward and slightly to one side or another will save some crucial energy. Wait for the most relevant opportunities your energy on.
That is how you choose the good goals in life!
Drinking From The Well
We run really fast nowadays. Otherwise we feel like we are missing something. Unfortunately, by doing so we are more likely to miss what is truly important to us. In order to grasp real opportunities based on your core needs, balance is everything.
Too much water — the downside of quantity
Why this fear of missing something? Why doing all we can as fast as possible? The obsession of filling up our experience jar as much as we can will only make it overflow. By doing so we are most likely to reach exhaustion and drown.
Pouring an infinite amount of water on a plant will kill it rather quickly.
Just enough water — the benefit of quality
To make a plant grow healthy, you need to find the right amount of water to fill its needs. By spending the right amount of energy on relevant opportunities, you have enough energy left to make the best of it.
Final Thought
Despite our will to control everything, there are forces that govern us. We have little to no control over people, timing, circumstances and everything else in the world.
When we try to reach a goal, we see all the blockers coming our way: the threats and the disablers are gathering to make us fail. We focus on them and advance stubbornly toward senseless direction rather than letting the forces show us the way. We lose so much energy in the process by fighting it instead of feeding from it. What really matters is how you use the forces around you.
I don’t say I believe in fate, but your are in a stream created by a complete ecosystem way greater than yourself. Be sensitive to it. You may find better answers and define your goals consequently. Go with the flow: see where the current goes, slowly define your goals and head toward what truly makes sense in order to achieve your goals.
More shared thoughts
I wrote about the need to fail in order to grow. It is a way to grow steadily.
In life, it is always a question of balance. I also wrote about the importance of the flow in the center of your life.
Having just enough, going slow and accepting imperfection and impermanence are other philosophies to help you find your way through life.
Having a structure to reach a goal instead of having just that goal as a compass to achieve it is better.
I wrote this article in response of another article: How to find the purpose of your life by Zat Rana. I also added a comment to it. I suggest that you read it as well.
Feel free to follow me as I write about my experience on motivation, goals, personal development, creative process and development process. I try to have a spiritual and philosophical approach to what I do because everything we do resonates with who we truly are. We just need to be sensitive to that!
I hope all my thoughts about life will help you to make sense out of it. :)
Cheers!
Tommy
