The Fish Tank

If we were fish it would appear that a lot of us are confining ourselves to fish tanks. So cut off from the flow of life we think we are swimming through the same water every day. Comfortably numb, stagnated and treading water, we wonder how life has become so challenging. Life happens to us. We succumb to a familiarity that has us believe we have no choice. That familiar voice weighs us down and distracts us from the ever changing reality that keeps presenting itself to us.

But, the river calls for us to leave the past behind, to let go of needing to know what is going to happen next. It flows towards truth, not comfort. It wants us to trust, to listen, to feel our way and to respond to what’s new in EVERY GIVEN MOMENT. In essence, the river is calling us to live through all its manifestations, be they rapids, gentle currents or still waters. When we allow the water to flow, its true nature is revealed to us.

The fish tank is an illusion, a dangerous one and it exists when we get stuck in our heads. We are, actually, always in the flow of the river. It is inside us and around us; it is everywhere. We just need to choose to wake up to it. As Heraclitus put it, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

by: Anamaría Acevedo-Villamizar & Hamish Mackay-Lewis