London, January 2021. Lockdown 3.0. Depth of winter. Covid raging. I have barely left my home for three weeks other than to go for winter walks. Yes, this is s***, it truly is. There is value in acknowledging we are in what a friend calls “the s*** zone”. Once we acknowledge that, then what can we do?
First and foremost I am someone who is positive, I see opportunities in every challenge. Also, I am reminded of martial arts, where it is often taught that it is far more effective to work with force or energy rather than to resist it. Finally (for today), I think of buddhism, of being “detached”.
So, we are stuck in lockdown, so let’s work with it, let us flow with it. Let us “Be Like Water”
Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
Bruce Lee, linking teachings of Wing Chun and Buddhism