Water Meditation can change your life

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”, said Albert Einstein.

Let us meditate on the mystery of water — one of the four basic elements of planet Earth.

I call it mystery because water is a mysterious substance, flow being one of its primary properties. It always flows downwards and meets resistance in its path with patience and perseverance. It will go under, around, and sometimes through a resistance, but never over it.

What does that docile nature of water teach us about our relentless efforts to climb the corporate ladder regardless of how many people we push down in the process?

Water meditation can help us to water down our desire to be the center of attention, to be on the top of the list, to be the first in line, and to become famous — all ego-centered activities leading to distress and dissatisfaction.

But then, how do we counter the charge that only dead fish go with the flow?

What about ambition and drive and achievement of goals?

If you understand the mystery of water, you will realize that flow is consistent with ambition and drive.

For example, in a contest between a river and a rock, the river always wins. The river reaches the ocean, its destination, but the stubborn rock that resists the flow of nature wears down and becomes dry and lifeless.

So, flow is a strength, not a weakness. Flow is not about being a pushover but about being powerful.

Remember the same water that gently flows can be fierce as a storm.

The same water that is soft and yielding can be hard and strong as ice.

The same water that floats you like a feather, can drown you like a rock. It can gently soothe your skin or garishly peel your skin.

The idea of being like water reminds me of the advice of Jesus that his followers should be “innocent as doves and shrewd as snakes.” It is the prescription for living simply and peacefully in a complex and complicated world.

Water is so mysterious that every time I need a mystical experience, I place a bottle of water on my desk and do a water meditation. There are more than 80 brands of bottled water companies in the United States alone. Even though bottled water is so ubiquitous these days and they come with sparkling names evoking feelings of deep springs at the heart of the Earth in faraway mountains, most of the bottled water we pay a premium price is tap water in plastic bottles labeled with catchy names. Even though I know that fact, there is an unconscious attraction for bottled water which has become a cool accessory in almost all settings.

So, the water bottle I am meditating on today is Aquafina. I like its exotic name. It is produced by PepsiCo, and it is the most-sold brand in the world, competing with Dasani produced by Coca-Cola. I love trivia, which is part of my relentless curiosity. The United States is the biggest consumer of bottled water in the world, having the ability to choose from 195 different brands, and consuming 1500 bottles every second! Those plastic bottles are a huge environmental hazard. When I realized that 85% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills and they are a threat to the environment, my fascination for this ubiquitous aquatic fashion faded away.

By using a good filtration system and reusable bottles, you can help yourself and Mother Earth in the process.

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)