"Be Water" by SeaSick Fist (Jaden Larker)

"Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no. If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion. You would not be reading this now. Suffering cracks open the shell of ego, and then comes a point when it has served it's purpose. Suffering is necessary until you realise it is unnecessary." - Eckhart Tolle

There will come many times in a persons life when they will be confronted by suffering. Those moments where you feel the weight of The Universe on your shoulders and just want to scream: "I'm done! I'm out." We're all familiar with the pain in our hearts that makes us feel like we can no longer go on. It's a part of life, an integral one.

The Universe is testing you, it is making sure you are strong enough for the greatness that lies in store for you. Every strong person who ever lived, started out a weak, helpless infant. Greatness and strength aren't given, they're achieved through suffering, persevering and finding a higher perspective.
Taoism teaches readiness and preparation. This is done through foresight, through looking ahead. In order to do this you must ascend the mountain of your pain-body and look at the larger universal reality. From this higher perspective we can catch a glimpse of our path and where it leads. Suddenly all those seemingly huge mountains of problems have their illusion shattered, and they become laughable molehills.

The Universe has a wonderful sense of humour, so long as you choose to be in on the joke.

“The world is just a ride, we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice between fear and love.” - Bill Hicks

Buddhism teaches that within our mind, in the subconscious depths we have seeds. A seed of compassion, of love, of fear, of suffering etc. Which seeds we choose to water are what will bloom in the conscious part of our mind. The more you water a seed the easier it will bloom and the greater it's presence in your mind. It is up to us to choose which seeds we decided to cultivate in the garden of our mind.

Once you realise you have this choice, what will you choose to water? It's all too easy to water the negative seeds without much thought, we've been doing it all our lives, old habits die hard. We weren't aware we even had a choice to begin with. It's up to us to choose not to water those seeds and chose which we truly wish to cultivate.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. Water can flow, or it can crash. Running water never grows stale, so you gotta just keep on flowin'. Be water my friend.” - Bruce Lee

Think carefully about the kind of reality you want to create for yourself. So long as you never forget that you have a choice, between inner peace and war, the decision is already made for you. You know what needs to be done, you've just got to motivate yourself to do it. Utilise suffering, until you feel you no longer need it. Then let it go. Walk on.

Jaden D. Larker
@SeasickFist
http://seasickfist.wordpress.com