Adaptability and change
As she was etching, a droplet began to observe her surroundings. It was sitting on a green leaf, reflecting the sunlight. She was very proud and content with her simple beauty. There were other drops around her, but she was convinced that she was the best and most special drop of all. "Ah, it is so nice to be a drop," she thought.
Suddenly, wind rose and the leaf began to tilt, pulling the drop towards the edge. Great terror seized her. She was sure that if she were to let go and fall she would break into a thousand pieces. "But why is this happening? Things were so comfortable and safe. Why did they have to change?" she wondered. She tried desperately to do everything she could to cling to the sheet. She tensed, grasped, but it was futile.
Reaching the edge of the leaf he realized there was no point in struggling any longer. And that thought calmed her... She closed her eyes, and without fear or second thoughts, with lightness and grace, she let go... Surrendering to the pull of gravity, she began to fall towards the unknown. Below her there seemed to be a mirror. A reflection of herself seemed to rise to meet the drop. Closer and closer she began to come to her image, which kept growing and changing. And suddenly a deep joy came over her. The old form of the tiny drop was no more, but the drop still existed. Calm and enlarged, she had become one with the vast lake.
How many times in our lives do we resist change? In yoga practice, this tendency is very evident. We get into a position and tense up, holding back from letting go, going deep, changing. And yet, once we relax we see that the tension that was there when we resisted what was happening (thinking that this would keep us safe and stable) is usually much more painful than simply letting go of what is happening. The Indian poet R. Tagore writes:
Let your life dance lightly on the edges of Time like a drop on the edge of a leaf.
The world within us is a living dynamic organism that is constantly changing and the same is happening in the world outside... In a world of perpetual change, there is a huge part of us that resists moving. It feels secure in the deeply carved patterns it has so painstakingly built, refusing to question the existing "map" by which it perceives reality, refusing to change "shape". We exhaust ourselves by passionately holding on to what we know in order to maintain a sense of balance and stability. Clearly, the loss of balance that results from resisting what is there, usually carries a lot more pain than what is there.
It is no coincidence that the element of water that carries these qualities (fluidity, adaptability...) is associated with fertility and creation. To create anything, I have to allow something else to change, not to be rigid, stuck to an idea, concept, thought... The quality of fluidity helps us to create freely, to get into whatever shape we want, to become whatever we want without predetermined boundaries and patterns.
Let this be our wish! May we walk gracefully where there is no fear of change. May we be open to the unknown, leave behind without hesitation anything 'ours' and take the big leap. There, at the edge of the leaf, every second is an opportunity to meet eternity.
As Ram Dass says,
You can do it like its a great weight on you or you can do it like a dance.