Right now I am lucky enough to be spending some time in a place that has a small brook or river running through our back yard. I have often used a river in my visualizations about my life. I know I am not the first to do so. I often would see it as a metaphor for how my life was going. In the beginning, I would be sitting on the edge of the river watching as it flowed by. It was telling me during times of worry that this to shall pass. Let it flow, you will be okay in time. In times of quietude, it gave me peace just watching the ripples in the water as it went by.

There was a time I visualized myself in the river, flowing down it in an inner tube! Who was allowed in the inner tube with me? Was I going down a rapid very fast, or was I relaxing and enjoying the nature around me? At times I had to hold on fast so I wouldn’t fall out of my inner tube! At times I came up against a rock and I was stuck! What now, where do I go now? As the water flowed past me I needed time to get unstuck. Then, before I knew it, there I was again, flowing down the river towards my goals! I love the metaphor of a river. I ask as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi  would, “ Are you in the flow?” As I lay back in my inner tube and kick my feet like a child I can feel playful and joyful and ask, “ Are you bringing that playfulness into your life now? If not what can you do to change that? Are you feeling the zest in your life?”

Now, I am sitting on my rock, meditating, taking in the beautiful nature around me and using all of my senses. I smell the fresh air, I feel the solidness of the rock under me, I hear the birds chirping, I see all the beauty around me. I check in with my SPICE of life to be sure I am paying attention to my whole being. Today the river is calm and hardly moving at all. As the small waterfall goes into the water it sets off sparkling bubbles that look like diamonds in the water. I am taking this calm in as I too take a pause, a retreat so to speak.  I am surrendering to quietude and allowing the internal waters to be stilled. I can sit in meditative contemplation allowing the next steps to reveal themselves when they are ready. This is a time and place of surrender when I am letting go and allowing the river to continue its flow.

Take a moment to meditate on where you are right now while listening to the sounds in this short video.