This Is a Journey of Our Life as a River.
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Friends and lovers can be like the rocks in our lives. Ones that hold steady and true through the twists and turns of life.
Times when our river of life feels it is spiraling out of control and we are afraid we will get swept away by the current.
Yet, what if we are meant to get swept away? The rocks hold us fast, creating a dam in our river. The water starts to become a little putrid, for water needs to flow in order to be healthy. Water moves in spirals, it is not linear.
That is where many of us live, in the linear line of life — work, home, and if we are lucky, a beloved, kids, dog… doing life. Is this what we are called to do? Truly? For some, yes, for others, no. What is our truth? Dare we follow our true path?
Or are we missing an invitation to the journey of life like the journey of a river? Starting at the source spring, perhaps a trickle, sometimes a waterfall springing free from the source active and eager to engage.
Some begin tentatively to follow and forge our way down ways across valleys, along pathways and byways. Trickling as we find more flow. More momentum, occasional whirlpools where it becomes so perilous we are unsure whether we will survive. We pick up pace and gather ourselves bounding over, around, sometimes slowing, other times stopping to lie as a glistening pool, resting yet always moving.
We become playful pools, full of vitality and life, giving homes to tadpoles, lush plant life. We meet other streams, we can become a river where many streams meet, only to find ourselves again, our own tributary off on our own adventure again.
We always have the banks of the river. Our bodies. These too can take different forms. Sometimes slim and fast-paced, other times wide and curvy, as they begin to meander in the middle phase of life, enjoying the grassy banks, more leisurely pace and interaction with other tributaries.
Rocks can help with the banks. They can also act as a barrier to movement, to flow, to vitality and life force. The truth of our path.
We can work and swirl around the rocks, crashing and thrashing, stuck in our own torment through trauma bonding rather than flowing.
We can become complacent and dependent on them. Never fully listening to our own calling of where to dart next, which landscape is our truth. Staying. Conforming. Comparing and slowly seeing our once clear waters become foggy with lack of oxygen.
Then one day the rocks simply roll away, and the river again begins to flow in a new direction. Gathering slowly a new momentum for life. Finding a renewed sense of freedom. A new sense of purpose. Liberated from the old ways, open to exploring the new.
New tributaries
New rivers
New grasslands
New ponds
New fish
A fresh journey set with the wisdom of the water and banks, the lessons of life, whereupon we reach the final stage of our river lives. We open into the wide mouth of our final destination, connection with the greater source, and become one.
This is a journey of our life as a river. Thank you to the ones who have been in, who are and who will be in it so far, and a special thank you to those who left like whispers on the wind, with no note, no words, just space. It gave me space and an invitation to once again find my flow.
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Sarah Bullock is a lover and dancer in life, and a creative therapeutic coach, who is passionate about empowering women to authentically and fully lead a life they love. She can be found dancing on the beach in East Sussex where she lives, and on her website.
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