Be Water

For several years, I was a part-time ski instructor at Beaver Creek on the side from day job as a software developer. The majority of professional ski instruction is a poorly paid occupation, but it makes your soul rich. I have not taught the past couple years, and it has had an effect on me. This season I hope to return to this enriching profession. I will leave my protracted declarations of love for ski instruction to a future post.

This post is about water. Water as characterized by the legendary Bruce Lee. During a TV interview on the long ago Pierre Berton Show, Lee describes the brief "Be Water My Friend". On the surface, it is a philosophy regarding the art of fighting. In his voice and his expression, for Lee, it is a way one could approach life. 

While there are many who look to Bruce Lee as a prophet, I assure you that I am not one of them. Still, the concept of being water in the way the Lee presents it, is something that has always stuck with me. I often related it to sports and in particular skiing. I speak about being water whenever I teach almost any aspect of skiing. For myself, it is most applicable to the skiing of moguls or "bumps". It is paramount to flow over moguls and yet still be strong when needed, much like water.

Due to water's hydrogen bonding combined with its relatively compact molecule size versus other compounds also containing hydrogen bonding, water has many unique and powerful characteristics. Combine that with it's requirement for the existence of life, and you have yourself nothing short of a marvel of the universe. It can adapt to many environments, be soft and still be powerful without ever changing its nature.

An amazing friend of mine, Rachel Preston Prinz, has been invited to present at a TEDx event where her focus will be on water in the desert. (her post) For some reason, I found myself focusing again on Lee's "Be Water My Friend". I had not thought about it for some time. I could not get away from it and then I stumbled upon a remix of the Pierre Berton interview by melodysheep. YouTube has the video for this remix and it is quite entertaining:

To now have this groovy mp3 on my Ski Mix playlist for the upcoming ski season was cause for excitement. My revisit of Lee's "Be Water My Friend" became a constant in my thoughts. Everyday we struggle to remain ourselves in the face of the many roles we play in our lives. We regularly face events, surroundings and forces upon us. My thoughts developed a new potency for "Be Water My Friend".

This lead to the following sudden stream of consciousness that just poured out of me as if someone else was writing it:

be water

be adaptable to your surroundings

strive to be level and calm despite the forces working upon you

be reflective

be nurturing of life and the lives around you

find paths around, under or over obstacles to reach your goals

let no force compress you

stay moving so you stay clear and healthy

glisten

handle ripples in your world with elegance

have the determination to wear down impediments

when under pressure, be focused enough to cut through stone

let your bonds be stronger than expected

be amazing and magical by being yourself

be water


by Craig McLeod - 09/01/2012

Rachel, thanks for the inspiration and I am wishing you all the best at your TEDx talk.