Every day on my drive to work, I cross the Ottawa River going from Quebec to Ontario. Beneath the bridge, there is a picturesque small island and bird sanctuary. Over the past few months, I have been stopping there for a few minutes to get a moment of peace and meditate before I start my day.

On one side of the island, there is a serene series of rapids. I feel I could sit and stare at them indefinitely as a sense of calm comes over me. And so many parallels with life start rushing, pun intended, to my head.

Looks familiar, but never the same

First and foremost, as I come to witness the power of the river it looks pretty much the same every day, but ironically, I am never looking at exactly the same thing. It is never the same water flowing through the rocks.

So much like our own life, it is only ever a snapshot in time that we are looking at. Whether it be our life, our partner, our children, etc, we are never truly looking at exactly the same person. Like us, they are changing moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. Not to mention our eyes and the perspectives behind them are ever-changing the way we show up and see them.

Much like the river, we may all look somewhat the same on the daily, but we are anything but.

It behooves us to remember this. To acknowledge the ever-changing nature of life and the people around us. To hold more grace for our ever-evolving nature and the messiness of our humanity.

Perhaps then we can let go just a little more of how we think people and things should be and accept them fully as they are at that moment.

What level is your water at?

When I watch the water flowing through and over the rocks, the whitecaps that form seem to be in the same spots and look the same. But upon closer inspection, this isn’t the case. The flow and rush of the water are never exactly the same, so neither is the formation of bubbles or froth.

The water level makes all the difference. If it has rained the night before, the water seems to flow more easily over and around the rocks. There is less whitewash, less smashing into the rock, and more flowing over with ease.

If there has been a recent drought, the rocks are a little closer to the surface and hence more smashing into on the way through.

This got me thinking about my own energy reserves. If I have stuck to my good habits protocols, sleeping well, eating well, moving, meditating and staying far away from toxic people and situations, my water level is high and I can deftly move through the challenges of the day without too much of a ripple.

On the other hand, if I’m off my game, and my water levels are low, I smash head-on into the smallest of toe-stubbing incidents and react disproportionately to what is in front of me. Turning molehills into mountains is a skill…just not a very useful one.

We don’t control the rocks

As it slowly makes its way out to sea, the water has no say in what lies in its path. It does not choose where the rocks lie, their size, or even the contours of the earth through which it effortlessly flows. Some of the rocks are in plain sight, and others lie hidden beneath the surface.

Most importantly, the river does not judge the rocks, get angry with them or resent them. Nor does it ask God what it had done to deserve these rocks in its way. Why me never crosses its mind.

Without question and much effort, it accepts the rocks, makes its way around and continues with little fanfare, along its journey.

As a species, we seem to waste so much time and mental and emotional effort wishing people and things were other than the way they were. What a waste.

And the most nefarious culprit are the unseen, or unacknowledged thought patterns that are holding us back. Preventing us from seeing what is truly in front of us.

The quicker we make peace with what is, as seemingly impossible as that may feel at times, the quicker we can invest our time and energy into designing a life that is meaningful to us.

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So how about you?

How are your water levels?
Any rocks in your life you need to make peace with?