Life flows like a river. All things come and go in this river: experiences, feelings, thoughts, sensations, perceptions. Notice how this happens. In every moment there is change, movement and transformation.
What appears to be happening outside of you is also happening in this river. Everything is happening in this river. Notice how what appears to be happening outside of you is also always changing, moving and transforming.
Sometimes a thought, belief or feeling may appear to be stuck. It doesn’t seem to move. It is like a stagnant place in the river that is no longer flowing. It is not really stuck but through our continued focus and attention, our thoughts, beliefs, fears and attachment, we prevent it from moving on. We prevent it from flowing as it naturally wants to. Eventually these stuck places reveal themselves as physical disease so that we will finally pay attention and release them. But even then, we often don’t. We seek a cure for the symptom (the disease) without looking at the cause (the stagnation, attachment, fear and resistance). And this too is just like a river. That stagnant parts that are not flowing become unhealthy. Sometimes it takes a great rain to wash through the river to release these stagnant places. Sometimes it takes a great trauma or crisis, like a serious illness or loss, for us to release these stuck places too and return to our natural healthy flow.
You are like a river. Everything comes and goes in you. Sometimes when the snows melt in the Spring, the river runs very fast. It can even overflow its banks. And other times, late in the summer, it moves so slowly and gently it barely seems to move at all. No matter how the river is flowing, it remains the river. To our superficial perceptions it may appear that the river is a raging rapids or calm and tranquil. But the river has no such opinions. It knows it is just the river. And this is also like us. No matter what is happening in our life, raging rapids or calm and tranquil, we remain just like the river.
Everything changes in our river: thoughts, feelings, beliefs, perceptions, sensations, experiences, situations. Everything is in constant flow. But, just like the river, we do not change. We remain what we are. We have been like this before this body was conceived. And we will continue just like this after this body is no more. There is an undying peace, love and well-being that never changes. Just like the river, we have always been absolutely complete and whole. Just like the river we see how everything is constantly changing in us and around us. And, just like the river, we see this and smile, for we never change. We remain always complete and whole.
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