Have you ever thought that your life can sometimes appear like a river? Just as you started small, found your way, grew, matured and developed, coping with the challenges along the way, a river starts small as a stream, grows in size and momentum coping with whatever lies in its path along the way. As water needs gravity to flow, we as humans, require food and nourishment to grow. And so the journey of life for both the river and human being has begun. Now, just as water will travel many miles, we as humans (mostly) will live many years.
Life is a learning process, a voyage of discovery with a degree of inevitability thrown in. Once started, there is no stopping, no going back. Instead, progress unfolds, sometimes easy, sometimes hard but always progressive as the water gathers momentum and pace. The speed at which the river grows is largely due to its willingness to take on other tributaries, streams and rivers (learning). Our learning comes in different forms, shapes and sizes.
Now, there is inevitability that the flow of the river, just as the flow of life, will not always be plain sailing.
Waste discharge, not always conducive to nature, will be emptied into the river: just as other people will be unpleasant, unfair and even sometimes nasty as they ‘dump their stuff’ on to us. How we absorb and dilute this is up to us. Left in a concentrated form, the foreign mass will do damage to the wild life in the river, just as, if we take on other people’s negative stuff we pollute our natural state to the point it will make us unhappy, unfulfilled and energy drained until we deal with the issue (the dilution). Remember, crystal clear waters represent purity in its natural state. Just as a trouble free mind represents happiness, energy and vitality so that we are able to live our lives to the full. This kind of sums up relationships, in life, the first of our 3 main areas on the ‘PSL Triad for Success’
Then there is litter, rubbish and foreign bodies lying in the river bed. Man- made items totally at odds with the intension of nature, dropped, deposited and left lying to rot (hopefully!); Tires, plastic, metal, boots and clothes. Now that’s not to say it will necessarily kill the wildlife in the river, but any toxins released in the water will have to be fought off, coped with and dissolved unless they are removed. This can arguably have parallels of the Health state of our bodies. The more chemicals, toxins or non-natural foods we ask or bodies to cope with, the more our immune systems have to ward off, tolerate and put up with just like the wildlife. We are talking potential excesses of food additives, alcohol, tobacco and drugs here. While the wildlife and us have remarkable tolerance levels, that’s not to say that our systems (water) would not be more energy filled, clearer and full ofnutrients without the foreign bodies lying around. This reflects the health status of our lives.
Then we come to the financial security that we all crave in our lives. There is every likelihood that money and cash flow will not always run positively in our lives. There will be choppy times as the river hits stones: when cash flow is tight, which can make us stressed. The rapids: when there is turbulence, unpredictability, maybe even the odd whirlpool as the turbulent waters of cash flow give us a rough ride. (Recession, threatened unemployment, business failure).
But like every river rapid or turbulence in life, a period of calm always ensues when the angry waters subside, quieten and deepen to provide economic stability, predictability, a deep knowing as financial security is reestablished. Financial markets gain confidence, unemployment is less of a threat and business confidence grows once more as wealth is created, represented here by the depth of the water. The waters spread and settle again, just as money is made to go around. The river is quietly but confidently flowing on its inevitable journey: life carries on more strife free.
So what of our river of life then? Where is this blog flowing?
Well picture this; as the river meanders, twists and turns, gathers pace and size, our lives will be challenged, shaped by our experiences and the people we meet along the way. Part of the journey will be exciting and enjoyable, others will be necessary learning’s we need for growth, progress and to become stronger through life. Sometimes when the going gets tough, ( I think they call it recession), time, reflection and the bigger picture will show us that it is all part of the inevitable journey, the shallow rough water (trying times) and the deeper smoother waters of more certainty and stability.
All part of life’s rich tapestry as they say. Listening to the UK Election Debate last night, it would be easy to think that the next 5 years will be all rapids, waterfalls and capsizes, especially if you vote for the other party (!) Or stuck in stagnant waters if there is a hung Parliament! But just as the river of life will flow regardless and in no fixed state for any length of time, so will our lives and our prospects for success and achievement. One door closes, another opens. The river flows in one compass direction, before twisting and turning in another but it will carry on regardless. It is useful to remember this when the media batter us with torrents of negative thinking around our future direction.
It’s called life. Nothing stays the same forever. Rivers do not stand still. Life does not stand still either.
“The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
P.S. Life Can Be Easy can act as a life jacket to those who relish the rapids but don’t want to drown in the experience! Or to those who aspire to the calm deep flows for as long as possible where life on a raft is just grand. How do we do this? By helping swimmers in life set goals or objectives in the areas of life they want. We help them to be aware of their values, align them with their desires then identify the blind-spots which may prevent them from achieving their goals too. But most importantly, when we reach the estuary of life (the end as we know it) we can face the ocean and its vastness knowing we have lived, breathed, laughed and cried with the flow of life, in all its magnitude. That every opportunity was taken, no stone was left unturned and every adventure exploited to make the waters rich in nutrients; abundant in volume and powerful by experience.
A river’s journey ended- a life’s journey fulfilled.
To make the most of your journey: look, listen and learn well. Life can be easy when you do, not so easy when you don’t! Make sure your life like a river, flows well. You won’t regret it.
