How water teaches us to go with the flow

Water is the most mysterious element on earth. We are water, we are born from it and we feed ourselves with it. What can we learn from this ever-flowing power?

Before the time of metal mirrors, people looked at their own reflections in still ponds or pools. The mythical Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection and sat by the water’s edge, yearning for himself, until he wasted away and died. Water teaches us things, with the most valuable lesson probably being: flow! Go through life with ease and elegance, follow the path of least resistance, bobbing and swaying in the flow.

Accept everything that life brings you. Always be prepared to move along without fear or reservations. “Water reaches its goal by flowing uninterruptedly,” Richard Wilhelm wrote in his translation of the I Ching, the Chinese book of change. “It fills every depth before it flows on. It does not recoil from anything – no dangerous spot, no fall into the abyss – and nothing makes it lose its essential nature. It remains true to itself under all circumstances… as all noble folk should.”

It flows on and on, merely filling up all the places through which it flows. It does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions.

Text: Lisette Thooft – Photo: Jeremy Bishop

In Happinez – Find your Balance, there’s a feature article about the miracle of water.  Check out our store finder, or order your copy here.