Row, Row, Row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merily, merily, merily, merily
Life is but a dream
Thank you to my darling sister for coming up with these visual, expressive, and honest interpretations of this childhood rhyme.
_____________
Row row row
Do your thing. Do it, do it, do it, until you master it. In the east they’d call this your dharma, or purpose in life. Do it well. Be impeccable. Keep doing it, don’t give up. And when you’ve mastered this stream, there are millions of different streams and rivers and lakes and oceans to row in. Find the next one that tickles your fancy, and start rowing again. Keep rowing.
YOUR boat
Not your wife’s or husband’s or partner’s boat. Not your kid’s boat. Not your neighbor’s boat or your co-worker’s boat or your mom’s or dad’s boat or your friend’s boat.. YOUR boat. You can’t solve anyone else’s problems or do their trips for them. You can’t bloom flowers. Sure, if you want to, you can keep the soil moist and put the pot in the sun and take it in when it gets cold. But the flower has to bloom itself. YOUR boat.
Gently
We struggle a lot in life don’t we? I know I do. And 99% of the time, it was for naught. Things came out the way they came out anyway. Did my angst and stress and struggle help? I’m not talking about a little motivation, which can be good. I’m talking about how hard we can make things for ourselves and everyone around us, just because we’re so hard. Can we be a bit kinder? I don’t mean become a doormat that people step on. Just a bit…. Gentler.
Down the Stream
Other than spawning salmon, we get along best with nature when we go down the stream, instead of trying to paddle up all the time. Really, isn’t most of the struggle in our lives caused by our not accepting things the way they are? The stream is flowing down, not up. I’m not saying don’t change things that you can .Yea, sometimes you have to go up the stream. But I’m talking about the living hell we can create in our own minds because we think things “should” be different than the way they ARE. Accept it first, then you have a prayer of changing it. Or not. But from a point of acceptance, you’re on a ground with the best perspective for change...down the stream.
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
Notice merrily four times? We don’t laugh enough in life! In cosmic terms, no matter what is happening to you, it’s not such a federal case. Someone, somewhere, is going to laugh at you for your pettiness, compared to what they’re going through. I laugh at myself every time I look in the mirror, thinking I have a clue. I love seeing kids laugh at nothing. What happened, why don’t I do that any more? I’d live in a comedy club if they’d give me a cot. We heal ourselves physically and emotionally by laughing. God (or whatever you want to call that divine intelligence that runs through us) has a great sense of humor; He/she smacks me now and then to make me laugh, and to tell me not to be so stupid. Merrily…
Life is but a dream.
Yes, it is. That which entered me when I popped out of my mama's belly is having a great ride. And in cosmic terms, it’ll leave me pretty soon. At the moment it’s in its little soul cage being held down by the spinning force of this little rock whizzing around a little yellow start tucked away in the corner of an insignificant spiral arm of one of billions of little old galaxies. The Universe will hardly notice when it goes out of me and “I” become fertilizer. The Universe will hardly notice when the sun goes out. What if our waking state is really the dream, and the dream is the “reality?” Makes as much sense to me as anything else. Why do dreams seem so real? Why do I feel like I’m dreaming half the time in my waking state? Life IS but a dream.
Gently down the stream
Merily, merily, merily, merily
Life is but a dream
Thank you to my darling sister for coming up with these visual, expressive, and honest interpretations of this childhood rhyme.
_____________
Row row row
Do your thing. Do it, do it, do it, until you master it. In the east they’d call this your dharma, or purpose in life. Do it well. Be impeccable. Keep doing it, don’t give up. And when you’ve mastered this stream, there are millions of different streams and rivers and lakes and oceans to row in. Find the next one that tickles your fancy, and start rowing again. Keep rowing.
YOUR boat
Not your wife’s or husband’s or partner’s boat. Not your kid’s boat. Not your neighbor’s boat or your co-worker’s boat or your mom’s or dad’s boat or your friend’s boat.. YOUR boat. You can’t solve anyone else’s problems or do their trips for them. You can’t bloom flowers. Sure, if you want to, you can keep the soil moist and put the pot in the sun and take it in when it gets cold. But the flower has to bloom itself. YOUR boat.
Gently
We struggle a lot in life don’t we? I know I do. And 99% of the time, it was for naught. Things came out the way they came out anyway. Did my angst and stress and struggle help? I’m not talking about a little motivation, which can be good. I’m talking about how hard we can make things for ourselves and everyone around us, just because we’re so hard. Can we be a bit kinder? I don’t mean become a doormat that people step on. Just a bit…. Gentler.
Down the Stream
Other than spawning salmon, we get along best with nature when we go down the stream, instead of trying to paddle up all the time. Really, isn’t most of the struggle in our lives caused by our not accepting things the way they are? The stream is flowing down, not up. I’m not saying don’t change things that you can .Yea, sometimes you have to go up the stream. But I’m talking about the living hell we can create in our own minds because we think things “should” be different than the way they ARE. Accept it first, then you have a prayer of changing it. Or not. But from a point of acceptance, you’re on a ground with the best perspective for change...down the stream.
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
Notice merrily four times? We don’t laugh enough in life! In cosmic terms, no matter what is happening to you, it’s not such a federal case. Someone, somewhere, is going to laugh at you for your pettiness, compared to what they’re going through. I laugh at myself every time I look in the mirror, thinking I have a clue. I love seeing kids laugh at nothing. What happened, why don’t I do that any more? I’d live in a comedy club if they’d give me a cot. We heal ourselves physically and emotionally by laughing. God (or whatever you want to call that divine intelligence that runs through us) has a great sense of humor; He/she smacks me now and then to make me laugh, and to tell me not to be so stupid. Merrily…
Life is but a dream.
Yes, it is. That which entered me when I popped out of my mama's belly is having a great ride. And in cosmic terms, it’ll leave me pretty soon. At the moment it’s in its little soul cage being held down by the spinning force of this little rock whizzing around a little yellow start tucked away in the corner of an insignificant spiral arm of one of billions of little old galaxies. The Universe will hardly notice when it goes out of me and “I” become fertilizer. The Universe will hardly notice when the sun goes out. What if our waking state is really the dream, and the dream is the “reality?” Makes as much sense to me as anything else. Why do dreams seem so real? Why do I feel like I’m dreaming half the time in my waking state? Life IS but a dream.
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