Watching the current pass

Here on the quiet river bank I notice the sensation of peace and openness as the water flows down the canyon ebbing and flowing against the rocks. Turbulent pools emerge and dissipate back into smooth laminar flow. Resting, I watch the currents pass. Each its own world, it’s own version of self. Swift and shaky. Smooth and gliding.

This openness I feel. Peace. It’s not a version of self, but the basis of experience itself. Each moment, emotion, is a contraction of that peace. A latching on of an experience. I realize there is a choice. An opportunity, into which current do I want to jump. Or, if I want to swim at all.

In the moment, close your eyes. Scan your body. What is here? What versions of you are available. Choose the version you want to embody and jump in the river. Embody it fully. Let the current take you. The rapids thrash you. Gasp for breath. Swim with ease. Float on your back. In this experience, feel it fully until it washes you back onto the bank. Back at peace, watching the opportunities and selves float by. 

Over time you’ll notice similar currents. Etched into the rocks below the swift water. Long gone experiences that have formed the canyon over time. Some of the currents we can choose to avoid. Choosing a different experience over and over, we see that option appear as a choice less and less often. Yet they never leave. 

Self is a choice. A decision, conscious or unconscious, to embody a particular experience offered to us as a peaceful observer on the river bank. 

Sit quiet and watch them pass by. Smile at them. Laugh at their antics. This swim is the essence. The opportunity to see ourselves as we truly are. And to choose the version we experience over and over again.