Flow

There is a principle, in various Eastern philosophies as well as martial arts, often credited (by the West) to Bruce Lee: Be Like Water. It’s not about hard or soft, but about adaptability, and the acceptance of change. Water takes the shape of its container, it runs down the path of least resistance – water adapts. The natural state of life is change, and as much as it scares most people, we need to learn to live with it. To deal with it, to at least attempt to embrace it. The problem is, we’re so busy filling our hours with appointments and to-do lists and strictly defined goals and deadlines, the idea of any unexpected developments is terrifying. It’ll throw our whole day off plan. If my boiler breaks down and floods my house and all my things are ruined? How much insurance and work and time will it take to repair and replace everythign as it was? The Eastern philosophies that expoudn the Be Like Water principle tend to promote minimalism as an ideal lifestyle – the promote having enough, and no more or no less. The idea behind it is the chill-out principle. On holiday, on weekends, we can breathe, and do nothing or whatever takes our fancy. We can chill. We can experience what the Scandinavians call hygge (which doesn’t really translate, but expresses a kind of combination of chilling + cosiness + camaraderie better lived than explained). If we live simply enough, not bogged down with extraneous possessions and commitments, the idea is that we will be more relaxed and more able to adapt, and just go with the flow.