Be Water

Momentum is only ever conserved in closed systems in Physics. But when it comes to progress and getting things done in life, it takes constant effort and work to maintain it.

Productive routines should be cherished, and re-enforced constantly when you have them down. It’s all too easy to re-establish bad habits long after you thought they were gone. But when you’re in a good flow, and you have productive routines, you have to do everything in your power to keep doing them. And you have to figure out specifically why they’re working, so you can replicate that sort of productive flow.

I think we all do our best to maintain productive habits. Among them crafting systems that work for specific projects you have to do repeatedly, waking up earlier, researching and planning out ways to optimize the results of future endeavors so you give them the best shot at success, exercising consistently for improved energy, etc. etc. It’s just about impossible to list them all. But one of the most important aspects of maintaining momentum is the ability to adapt. We can set into place rigid systems, but if we lack the fluidity to change our approaches to best maintain our momentum, then we risk stagnation. And oftentimes, an approach that worked for a while may need to be tweaked to improve its efficiency. Or scrapped altogether for a better way of doing things.

It’s well documented that adaptability is just about the most important trait for dealing in the modern world. Things change so much faster nowadays than they did centuries prior. We can have systems, many of which will always be relevant and work regardless of changing outside circumstances. But for those situations where external circumstances affect momentum, you have to modify your systems to keep moving forward. Which reminds me a lot of a Bruce Lee quote that I heard a long time ago tangentially related to this thought of adaptability and maintaining flow.

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” – Bruce Lee

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45 thoughts on “Be Water”

  4. It’s a bit easier to define the limits of a system in physics, but within our selves, our families, our villages and cities, OK our planet, there is momentum too as you say. Keep it rolling’ I say.

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  8. Hi. I suck at self-discipline, tho I used to be better. Since yesterday, I’ve considered the zodiac. I cannot do the bible for its burn-in-hell sermons. I hate John Calvin, who asserted that whoever is saved or not is predestined. According to him, our good works avail us nothing ‘cos we’re all marked from birth. Makes no sense to me! I’m a good guy like everybody else. We can only do our best given our circumstances… I hope you are doing well. I’m not so hot. Take care.

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  9. Hey there. You are quite a philosopher, so I hope you get published and make a million. Your ethical approach is why I liked your writing from the first. I just ordered a novel by Iris Murdoch. Initially I read it at 18yo and loved it. A reading assignment in college. Published in the early ’70s and titled _A Fairly Honourable Defeat_. Murdoch tends to dislike Jewish people, and yet acknowledges their wisdom. I hope you might find an audio book of her, if you’re curious. I recommend _Under the Net_ because it’s so hilarious. I laughed till I cried. Have a good day. PS. Unamuno’s _Abel Sanchez_ IMO is really good, too.

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    • Would definitely love to get traditionally represented and published! And happy you like my writing man, I’m not too familiar with Iris Murdoch, but just reading the few quotes I’ve come across after a quick search and I can see a lot of wisdom in her work though the prejudice you mention is troubling. Thanks for the recommendation hope you have a good day too!

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  10. Of course that antisemitism is unacceptable. Some of the best professors on campus were Jewish. Overall, they tend to be extremely intelligent. Jews are in fact surprised when we Caucasians exhibit any brightness at all. Of course they are right… My biggest take-home lesson from the U of Oregon was the Jewish Holocaust. Apartheid was going on in those years, so past atrocities were revived. Sigmund Freud was huge. I really wish the tuition were free. It’s so darn expensive, so a lot of curious intellects like you are excluded. Please use me like a human encyclopedia. I want to help as much as possible. My education has mostly gone to waste. My brain contains info from schooling that you couldn’t find online. My email is robgraden@outlook.com. I’ve been way too cocky on my blog, so paying the price today. I had to do a reality check and, yes, schizophrenia is an excellent cause to write for. So long.

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  14. Water… H20… a unique molecule that allows it too take on three physical properties… a solid, a liquid and vapor/a quasi-gas. It is also the most important of life’s requirements… without water there is no life. I am reminded of the Trinity of God… Father, Son and Holy Spirit… all three one but with three separate personalities and forms. If I told you water was ice I would get little argument… or that it was steam a vapor/gas and still no argument… of course we all agree water is a liquid… then why is it so difficult to believe that our GOD is ONE God but expresses or appears in the Earth in three forms… the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all three ONE. It is also very significant that water is 2 parts Hydrogen and one party Oxygen… Hydrogen being the number one element in the atomic table of elements… the most powerful element in the table… also made up of one each electron, proton and neutron, the basic elements that make up all the elements… Hydrogen represent God the Father and the Son… identical… if you have seen one you have seen the other… Oxygen, if the BREATH of life… the Spirit that moves like the wind… God breathed life into Adam and it is also the BINDING element between the Father and the Son … and the Water Molecule. Interesting how God demonstrates Himself in everything … including science… if we will be choose to see..

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    • I’m so happy to hear you felt that way!! =D And I really hope I can too thank you so much haha I’ve gotten my queries out to over 60 agents now for a second book but still no offers of rep, but just got to keep trucking. That was a beautiful piece of writing about motherhood on your blog, the world needs more mothers like you 🙂 All the best to you!!!

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    • You guys are amazing. Do you know anything about dogs? I have a blue heeler who is just awesome. He’s almost as human as I am, and all he had to do was hang around me. My family had nothing to do with it. My dog’s name is Aesop. When my left knee was crippled, he learned to sleep with me on the couch. I felt so bad a year ago when I was suicidal and had to be separated from him. I’m determined not to go to the hospital again. Take care.

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  18. Great post Oscar,

    I am fascinated with water.Water is the only liquid in the world which expands during the freezing period.Also the water is the only material in the world who have three states:liquid, gaseous and firm.Water also has its own energy and the ability to affects our lives.About 70% of our body is water and about 90% of our brain is water.

    Be water my friend, because you are water my friend

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  21. Oscar, I am so glad you inserted the quote from Bruce Lee. As I was reading the post (Before reaching the Lee quote. I was thinking about his analogy as he was teaching how to reboot the martial artist’s view of thinking outside the training box. Well said.

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