“Watch the flow of water when it floods an area of land and you will see that it puts out fingers, and some of them stop because they come to blind alleys. But the water doesn’t pursue that course; it simply finds its way around. The water never uses any effort, however, only its weight and gravity, and by following its level it finds the path of least resistance.” ~ Alan Watts, Still the Mind
We are in a strange time where many feel like they are in a kind of limbo — a sense of being between two worlds. Perhaps we’ve lost a job and are trying to figure out the next chapter of our life. Maybe we’ve had great realizations but haven’t figured out how our “new self” fits into our family of origin and the society we grew up in. Or maybe it’s our romantic relationship, where we live in the world, how we eat, move, and live.
When we start to have big changes, we often go through a time of feeling very stuck. It’s like the energy isn’t flowing at all, and if we aren’t careful, our brains can convince us that something is wrong, when in fact, everything is just fine.
What is a Blind Alley?
“Watch the flow of water when it floods an area of land and you will see that it puts out fingers, and some of them stop because they come to blind alleys. But the water doesn’t pursue that course; it simply finds its way around.
I love this vision of water flowing out from a particular point. We have all seen the water go to a point and then stop due to going uphill, the water being absorbed…. OR maybe there is another pathway that is flowing faster and drawing the water that way.
Our challenge is that we often find ourselves staring at the spot where the water stopped flowing. If we allowed ourselves to be like water, we would be fine. But instead, our brains often get in there and start analyzing why the water stopped, fears get in saying that the water will never flow again, and suddenly, we find ourselves sitting in the corner staring at the blind alley.
But this is unnatural. The energy isn’t going to stop. It will just find a way around. The key is to release our mind and its fears… and just let the water flow.
Don’t Give Up Your Desires
The water never uses any effort, however, only its weight and gravity, and by following its level it finds the path of least resistance.
First, we can feel the truth of the weight of the water naturally continuing to flow… that the water HAS to keep flowing. It has no choice.
But what if our fears have stopped the flow of water? What if that Universal Door being closed on one way of living has freaked us out in a way that we’ve actually dammed the flow of our desires in life? What if the in-between-limbo time has allowed too many fears and negative thinking in… and we are now not even letting our desires flow any longer?
On the flip side, what if one door closing opens up a larger floodgate of possibilities in our lives? What if there were things that we once wanted to do but couldn’t do on the trajectory that our life had been on for the last while?
In fact, what if all we have to do is remember our true desires? What if we just have to focus on what would make our lives happy, peaceful, and exciting?
What if our excitement about our true dreams and possibilities is a floodgate of energy that when allowed, like the water, will just naturally find its way out into the world?
Finding little blind alleys is completely natural on the journey of flooding our lives with our dreams. All we have to do is trust the weight of our desire… and gravity will simply bring them out into the world on the paths of least resistance.
Thanks for this Katrina - I really needed to read '...the water HAS to keep flowing. It has no choice.' At this moment, for me, I have a clear objective to rebalance my fundamental character profile to work with enhancing the natural gravity of my personality while at the same time celebrating and welcoming the strengths that I have. Easy to write, less easy to do - so your words showed me the wisdom of accepting that I have to let the water flow where it will and to learn from what that may teach me....