Going with the Flow

A gd friend of mine pointed out this story to me yesterday, but I left the book in the office so only get to read it a moment ago. A simple story but it has profound meaning in it so I thought I share with the readers. This story came from a book "Opening the Door of Your Heart" written by a buddhist monk. Although I am a free thinker, I find this book to contain a lot of nice stories so I strongly encourage readers to pick up this book and read.

The story as follows:
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A wise monk whom I have known for many years was hiking with an old friend in an antipodean wilderness. Late one hot afternoon they arrived at a splendid stretch of isolated beach. Even though it is against the monks' rules to swim just for fun, the blue water was inviting and he needed to cool off after the long walk, so he stripped off and went for a swim.

When he was a young layman, he had been a strong swimmer. But now, as a monk of long standing, it had been many years since he had last swum. After only a couple of minutes of splashing in the surf, he was caught in a strong rip tide that began to sweep him out to sea. He was later told that this was a very dangerous beach because of the fierce currents.

At first, the monk tried to swim against the current. He soon realised, though, that the force of the current was too strong for him. His training now came to his aid. He relaxed, let go and went with the flow.

It was an act of courage to relax in such a situation, as he saw the shoreline recede further and further away. He was many hundreds of metres away from land when the current diminished. Only then did he start to swim away from the riptide and back towards shore.

He told me that the swim back to land took every last ounce of his energy reserves. He reached the beach utterly exhausted. He was certain that, had he tried to fight the current, it would have beaten him. He would have been swept far out to sea just the same, but so depleted in energy that he would not be able to make it back. If he hadn't let go and gone with the flow, he was sure he would have drowned.

Such anecdotes demonstrate that the adage "When there is nothing to do, then do nothing." is not fanciful theory. Rather it can be life-saving wisdom. Whenever the current is stronger than you are, that is the time to go with the flow. When you are able to be effective, that is the time to put forth effort.
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Another good story. I suggest you'll to read the last paragraph carefully and think through it. How many times when the 'current' produced by the problem at hand, make us so panic, we try to 'swim' against it, then to only find out you actually do more damage than the problem itself?

I think a classic example is when you are arguing with your friend. Both side are so heated, each holding to their own opinion relentlessly, no one wants to budge. By arguing further or 'swimming' against the tide, you just destroy the friendship that could have taken years to build. So why not walk away from the argument, give yourself and your friend time to calm down and then talk things through later.

If there is one sentence you should take with you from the story, I think it would be "When there is nothing to do, then do nothing." But let me add another sentence in, just to complete it. "When there is nothing to do, then do nothing. When there is something you can do, give it your best shot."

Cheers!