Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend."
Bruce Lee
Martial Artist, Actor, Author
Sometimes, I can smell a deep breath of the ocean near my home in the morning. It is a gentle whisper and reminder of the life force at the center of life that keeps me present. I have thousands of pictures of water, oceans, lakes, streams, and puddles. Yet, I am never bored of the magic I see in the water, the potential for revelation, and reimagining life.
The ocean leaves messages in the sand, patterns, and gifts from inside the sea, constantly changing yet silent and stoic. There is a mystical component in the glistening and dancing of colors. As an artist, I want to capture the essence and tell a story with the color, a story felt with the heart and seen in varied ways by each person that sees the work.
Water reminds us that were are incredibly flexible, silent and fierce, still and deep, light and playful. It also shows us that we need balance; too much water or too little water can cause death and destruction in an instant floor or slow and steady drought that steals the life force of all inhabitants. So it is a constant reflection of life's most important messages to be silent sometimes and to notice the messages or revelations that tell the quiet story of beauty.
As an educator, the silent stories of water reminded me to observe what was not spoken by children, notice the flow of energy, and where it was stuck and overflowing. Water also represents emotions and the flow of the life force in our environments. Overflowing toilets, broken pipes, and clogged drains are messages about balance or the lack of balance, another story without words.
To be like water is to be in constant revelation and creation, to move gracefully with the changes that naturally happen, slowly making a new pathway forward. So as Bruce Lee so wisely said, Be like water, my friend.