Reflection: Be like a river

A river doesn't hold all the water that runs through it - be like a river.

In our journey through time, we all struggle constantly with what to bring along and what to leave behind. It feels so hard to throw anything away, but if we don’t, we will drown underneath a weight of our own making.

The river is a good example. It doesn’t own the water that rushes by, yet it couldn’t be more in a more intimate relationship to it, as the force of what moves through shapes it. It is the same with everything we love. In truth, there is no point to holding onto the deepest things that matter, for they have already shaped us.

The purpose of sentiment, then, is to release the powerful feelings that sleep in us. Sometimes books and cards and shells and dried flowers do this. But often we carry more than we need, seldom trusting that what these small treasures represent is already living within us. Often the most useful gift we can give ourselves is to lay our lives open like a river.

Reflect: Take a moment to hold a Momento or special item that has meaning for you and meditate on the feeling it releases. Be aware of where this feeling lives in you. Consider how alive or not this Momento is for you. Consider why you keep it. What part of it lives in you. Namaste.

#weekendmeditation #thebookofawakening #belikeariver