YOU MATTER

THE HAPPINESS LAB

One my favorite podcasts is called “The Happiness Lab” with Dr. Laurie Santos. It is one of those podcasts where time melts as you listen along. I always get tidbits of useful information that I can apply somewhere in my life. One of the more recent episodes I listened to was “Lao Tzu”. The guest speaker, Solala Towler, talked about the lessons of the Chinese speaker Lao Tzu. One of the parts that resonated with me was to be like water.

“A river cuts through rock, not because of it’s power, but because of it’s persistence.” Jim Watkins

Yep water.

When you are like water you keep all the main parts that make you, well you, yet regardless of being frozen, boiled, used to make something, used to clean something you are water.

When you are like water you keep flowing cause you have your flow on. The gorgeous Grand Canyon was formed because the Colorado River flowed through rock, for a super long time, and made the Grand Canyon. Water keeps flowing when it’s flowing. Have you ever been in a swimming pool with other people and kept circling around and around until there was this incredibly strong current? That is what water can do. Water does not use its water energy to fight the challenges coming. It keeps flowing and goes over, around, or chisels is way through, to continue upon its path. Water is like you cannot stop me hurdles because I am coming through. I am water!

BY JUDI SWANSON

it’s calm, everything becomes clear.” Prasad Mahes

Water keeps it’s hydrogen and oxygen properties regardless of being in a cup, bowl, bottle or anything. H2O is always H2O. Even when unexpected things come at water, some of them pretty intense, the core of water is always there.

So as I listened to this episode, well quite a few times, I reflected upon my life. My ups and downs. Times where the stormy seas of life was tossing me all over the place. Times when I used the majority of my energy to fight whatever storm was going on. While hindsight is 20 – 20, I wonder what would have happened if I had not used so much energy to fight and instead decided to climb aboard my drift chaise chair while I floated along, still moving forward, while the turbulent seas were crashing around me.

I have some people in my life who fight well, pretty much everything, even the good. When positives come their way they are on guard, holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. For some their personal history plays a role in how they receive life. It can be difficult to accept positives when you have experienced many crappy moments. Yet sometimes you need to take a risk. Surrender the best you can to embrace life using your precious energy to have faith and trust in yourself. That no matter what comes your way, who you are and how you engage in the world, will help you navigate those still moments and any turbulence in your life.

“There is a hidden message in a waterfall. It says if you are flexible falling will not hurt you.” Mehmet Murat Ildan Water can chisel and change things. Water keeps coming no matter how you try to stop or block it. Water can be calm, gentle, can cleanse and hydrate, and throw you around.

In listening to this podcast and taking from it pieces of information to apply to my life moving forward I am going to be more like water. I am going to keep in mind that no matter what is going on in life that I am me and I can adapt to any situation while remaining myself. When turbulent seas come my way I am going to not use so much energy to stop them as I cannot stop it. What I can do is use my energy to see how I can go over, around , or continue to cut through the challenge at hand.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of the missing drop.” Mother Theresa

Most amazing person ponder the ways in which you move through life. Are there times you use all of your energy to fight your stormy seas or perhaps the calm ones? Could you put hope and faith in yourself that whatever comes your way you can, and will figure it out? That you will use your powerful water ways to go over, around, or chisel through any obstacles in your path? This might involve taking a step, getting just your feet wet for starters. That’s okay as we all need to begin somewhere. You matter and how you do you matters. You are the only you there is in this world. May your water ways be with you.