Tap Into The Stream

“Just let your love flow like a mountain stream
And let your love grow.”
–20th century American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist, Lawrence Eugene Williams

Ever since the first time I read the metaphor about the continuous flow of water to the flow of life, I’ve personally felt drawn to it. I even chose to live in a house adjacent to a small river partly because of this comparison.

We have plenty of reasons to love rivers and streams beyond them being sources of life-giving and life-saving water. Many cities have been founded upon their banks as places to live and thrive as human communities. Hence, the flowing of water is deeply tied to the flow of our lives.

Fluid streams not only flow past us, but within us as arteries and veins circulating vital blood to every living cell and fiber of our bodies. This essential circulation allows us to glide through life itself and to appreciate the flow of life all around and within us. The circulation system is a microcosm of Mother Nature’s water cycle. Water flows on the surface, then evaporates, and falls again as precipitation, so does our lifeblood flow with essential life ingredients, with the depleted blood flowing through the heart and organs, to flow again–refreshed with more ingredients.

“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”–Herman Hesse

The stream of life never stops as it takes us through life from birth to demise. It is in perpetual motion containing everything that we fear and adore. Every moment represents another way to appreciate and feel respect. There is a paradox regarding the stream. In spite of the endless flow, the stream exists in the same place. Without the flow, the water would be a stagnant pool of fluid. So it is with life, life exists within us in the same body, and without the flow we become stagnant as well. To thrive in the river of life we allow ourselves to move forward without losing sight of our authentic, true character.

The streams of life are manifestations and metaphors for the precious, moving, living parts of life within and throughout the world and ourselves.

Namaste

The Blue Jay of Happiness again quotes Herman Hesse. “The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it, too. The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths.”