Be Water
CHALLENGE: When you hear “Be Water” – what are your thoughts? What images go though your mind? Are there any initial life implications that cross your mind?
“Be Water” is a phrase that martial arts superstar Bruce Lee was famous for saying. In reviewing https://brucelee.com/podcast-blog/2017/6/28/53-meaning-of-life, several life changing ideas were revealed for me. Such as:
“The meaning of life is that is to be lived.” The blog says that “life is meant to be engaged with, present in, taking action toward…” water is…” always moving, always changing, always flowing, and you want to be right in the flow of it.”
For me, this is a key part of I Dare to Act – I am tired of being tired, tired of say “I used to be”, “I was a …”. Tony Robbins would say “progress = happiness.” Miley Cyrus would say “It’s the Climb.” For now on, I want to be engage, present and in action!
“Realize the fact that you simply live and not live for.” The blog says that “when you’re living for something else, you’re putting your life outside of yourself.” “When you’re in your head contemplating, you are not relating to the real world. This can start an internal loop within your mind, and your energy gets caught up in that loop.”
I am a ruminator – I tend to ruminate on a relatively meaningless thought or task, wasting energy and time that could be spend on a positive experience.
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“We realize that manipulation and control are not the ultimate joy of life – to become real, to learn to take a stand, to develop one’s center, to the support of our total personality, a release to spontaneity – yes, yes, yes!”
I am a control freak – I thrive on control and knowing, and conversely, I am overwhelmed by chaos and not knowing. These are fundamental traits of the melancholy Beaver, and very limiting for me. Bruce Lee would say, “Be pliable, when a man is living he is soft and pliable, when he is dead he becomes rigid. Pliability is life, rigidity is death, whether one is speaking of one’s body, mind, or spirit.”
I am trying to have a “rigidity alert” that reminds me to be pliable, to be like water!
So the question for you -- When you hear “Be Water” – what are your thoughts? What images go though your mind? Are there any life implications that cross your mind?