RIDING THE CURRENT: Lessons from the Natural World

It was a fabulous, warm day in late spring. My 2 adult children, Ruthe and David were visiting me in Colorado and we were doing fun stuff. This particular afternoon we were shopping at REI in Denver near the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. Being a Pisces, it's a favorite spot of mine-- right next to the water. The Confluence is a great play-place: kayakers try new moves on their crafts, folks come down with picnics, some bring their dogs, letting them run through the park on one side, while on the other, long graded terraces of concrete and stone take a person to the water's edge. THIS side has been home to a favorite group of mine: The Colorado Fire Tribe. As a member, I've spun my fire hoop to fabulous live drumming during the warm seasons on Sunday evenings and hung out with some mighty fine folks.

There's always been ample room on this side for watchers, fire performers...anyone.....but today the river, so high in its spring runoff had flooded over the entire lower terrace. Instead of a peacefully playful river, it's morphed into a swift and powerful current, not reccommended for even the best swimmers. WOW! I'd never seen the water so high and fast in this place. Anyone wise would NOT be traveling the confluence waters today. My duaghter and I stared as many,many cubic feet per second poured past us.

Then we spotted something on this big water that riveted our attention: Ducks. These were just regular mallards, a drake and a hen taking a paddle down a river...and on a regular day with regular water I wouldn't have been concerned. But these birds were travelling quasi-torrents. How in the world would they get to their destination? And how would they navigate through such strong and unwieldy waters? "WOW, look at those ducks! Look how fast they're going! I wonder if they can make it into that eddy they're paddling toward?" said I to my daugher. We both watched, spellbound as two tiny ducks careened swiftly down the flood-- and navigated themselves into a willow-eddy, paddlling out of the water at just the right moment to dry ground.

I was incredulous.

"Did you see that???? WOW!!!!!!" I was not only impressed that such comparatively small creatures rode a current of this power and magnitude, but NAVIGATED through it to their chosen destination. Call me crazy, but I was just flat-out impressed with those ducks.

Ruthe, known for her verbal sound-bites to describe certain difinitive moments, uttered with a smile: "dittle lear, dittle-lear, dittlelear-dittleleardittlelear!", modulating her voice from low to high-back- to-low again as the words spilled from her mouth. A sound to describe a magical moment.

Evidently those small creatures posessed something I was unaware of that allowed them to navigate big water with-- at first sight--seeminly inconsequential resources. I still give a snerk inside when I remember this small but potent teaching event that Mother Nature handed me that day.

Today, nearly a year later I know exactly why I was impressed with this moment: I'm travelling a river-of-life so fast that some days and moments I turn to a fellow traveller, observing "Was that____that just happened?"...as the experience already disappears from view. I feel like I'm continually working to catch up with myself! Travelling the crazy-insane speed of this rapid, the speed of the current is the call of the Universe, delivering a current (sometimes with the added excitement of breaking waves) so breathtakingly immense and fast flowing that I barely have time to (sometimes) partially assimilate what's just happened before a new adventure around the next bend bursts upon me. Whew!

Back to the ducks.

I marvel at the animal world's ability to remain so unflinchingly in the present moment. Literally unruffled, trusting the current to take them EXACTLY where they needed to go, the mallards had faith in their ability to travel something this big, respecting the power of their vehicle, yet working with it. Attention to right now, RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW is what got them there, as well as trusting their resources and using their own pace and rhythm. They made marvelous use of a dynamic current and had the confidence to navigate it, staying with the moment.

DO WE?

Presently, I see lots of people freaking out in this flow. (Once in a while when I forget, I'm there, too!) thi There are a number of things they do that work against them: Holding on to the side, fighting the current, looking at others for their pacing, ignoring their own natural flow and rhythm (which by the way, includes the option to eddy-out, rest and get one's bearings). Sometimes life even takes them out (and for a good reason, sometimes unknown to the traveler-- at least at first) and they sit there on the side, looking outside themselves at others in the river, wondering "Why?"

If experience and the teachings from the natural world are the talisman I hold for navigating succesfully through the river of life at this most auspicious time on the planet, here is my nugget of wisdom: Today I take a lesson from the ducks: In this River:

1. Trust the flow, don't fight it.

2. Use the flow to my advantage. This can truly make the journey a lot easier and more effortless. Why try to make it happen by myself? I have this amazing power I'm riding at my disposal!

3. Trust my own natural rhythm and pace.

4. Keep paddling and focused when in the flow, BUT TRUST MY SENSES WHEN IT'S TIME TO EDDY OUT, REST AND RE-CENTER.

5. Stay present, and with my experience, NO MATTER WHAT, whether I'm in the water or eddied out.

6. NEVER underestimate the value of a traveling companion.

7. ENJOY THE RIDE

As James Taylor says:

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time
Any fool can do it
There aint nothing to it
Nobody knows how we got to
The top of the hill
But since were on our way down
We might as well enjoy the ride
The secret of love is in opening up your heart
Its okay to feel afraid
But dont let that stand in your way
cause anyone knows that love is the only road
And since were only here for a while
Might as well show some style
Give us a smile

Isn't it a lovely ride
Sliding down
Gliding down
Try not to try too hard
Its just a lovely ride

Now the thing about time is that time
Isnt really real
Its just your point of view
How does it feel for you
Einstein said he could never understand it all
Planets spinning through space
The smile upon your face
Welcome to the human race

Some kind of lovely ride
Ill be sliding down
Ill be gliding down
Try not to try too hard
Its just a lovely ride

Isnt it a lovely ride
Sliding down
Gliding down
Try not to try too hard
Its just a lovely ride
Now the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time

--James Taylor, "The Secret 'O Life"