Being the stone

Picture if you will a quick flowing stream cascading down from the mountains, winding among the hills and finally emptying out in a river below. The bed of the stream is lined with rocks and pebbles. The swift current of the river kicks the pebbles louse and caries them helplessly towards the river below. The rocks stand firm against the rushing waters letting the waters part around them and flow onward. Which one are you? I know that I used to be a pebble going with the flow letting events and circumstance drag me were they would but lately I like to think I am becoming more like the stone.

The river

First let's look at the river. It flow represents time, the floods of activity the droughts of inopportunity and the regular flow of day to day living. The currents are the pull of circumstances and events in our lives and when they are strong enough they can shift even the mightiest bolder from one place to another. We must understand that the flow of the river and its life altering currents are not an enemy but neither are they our friend, they just are. A kind of wisdom is knowing when to fight the current and when to go with it.

The pebble

There is nothing wrong with being a pebble especially while you are young. The pebble is tossed about by the current and dragged from place to place. This is a great way to gain knowledge and experience the world around you but it does have its draw backs. For one thing when we move as a pebble we are not working towards any one goal. While we see the world and what it has to offer our perception of it is limited by being on the guided tour so to speak, we only see what events and circumstance are willing to show us. The other disadvantage of the pebble is that it tends to stay in the same place in time and life experiences. The pebble moves with the water which is the flow of our lives so it becomes stuck in an unchanging way of living.

As the pebble travels down the river it will one day, with luck and a shift from publish thinking to stonefish thinking find a place on the river bottom to settle.

The stone

Having banged around the river bed and finally found a good place to rest the stones of the world stand firm letting the experience of life wash over them. While these experiences might change them they do not move the stone as far or as often as they do the pebble. The stone instead changes the cores of events and currents based on its shape. For us this means that we are working towards our goals, we are working to change the patterns in our life and create stability for ourselves. We do this by becoming aware of our own habits and nature or if you prefer our temperament. With this awareness comes the ability to stop ourselves from making the mistakes of our youth while at the same time nurturing the tendencies that caused us to make good decisions in the past.