Let it run
Allow the river to take you wherever it is going.
I like to start my day with coffee and reading. Usually it’s poetry. Today it’s Tao: The Pathless Path by Indian spiritual leader and mystic, Osho. This morning I read this:
You are not to swim but just to flow with the river, allow the river to take you wherever it is going — because every river ultimately reaches to the ocean. So don’t be worried, you will reach the ocean.
I think my heart took a deep breath when I read this. I have this urgency in me. I don’t want to waste the life I’ve been given - my talents, my time. I don’t want to miss what’s here for me. What if I miss something? What if the boat goes by and I’m not on it?
Maybe it’s being on the heels of Covid, maybe it’s the summer which always feels chaotic to me, but external circumstances have been pushing me to worry less. I just don’t have the bandwidth to worry as much as I used to.
Art has certainly been a teacher in this. Writing, too. If I sit down to make anything with too rigid a plan, it doesn’t go well. If I worry about what comes or doesn’t come, I miss being in the moment, in the making. And it’s just not fun.
There’s a certain wisdom in letting go into whatever is in front of you - the blank page, the blank canvas. A certain wisdom in surrendering to life, letting the river take you wherever it is going.
I’m not sure when it started, but when a stress thought pops up, I will cut it off by saying It’s going to be okay. Nothing earth shattering here. The significant thing is that I’m actually starting to believe it will be okay. I’m older now. I’ve lived some life, traveled down that river. When I look back I can see—it’s okay. I’m okay.
Alan Watts from The Wisdom of Insecurity:
You cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. If you try to capture running water in a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand it and that you will always be disappointed, for in the bucket the water does not run. To have running water you must let go of it and let it run.
You can’t tame the river and why would you want to?
Jump + pray + let it run,
Joce
» Books mentioned + recommended:
The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for An Age of Anxiety by Alan Watts
A friend on Twitter recommended this book to me. It opened my eyes to the role insecurity was playing in my life. Does our search for security create insecurity? So many interesting ideas in this book.
Tao: The Pathless Path by Osho
In this book, Osho shares a fresh and contemporary interpretation to the ancient wisdom of Tao. His commentaries explore the contrasts between the rational and irrational, the structured and the spontaneous. He always gets me thinking.
» You are invited
I’m having an open studio in October. I am terrified about it and excited to share my art with whoever will come and see. I’d love to hang out if you’re in Ojai. Mark your calendar?
