Old man falls into the river

An old man accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive.

"I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

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This parable is all about going with the flow. Whenever we go against the grain, we have to put in the effort to succeed and push back against the friction and resistance, which does our job twice as hard. If, instead, you take a second to see the direction things are moving naturally and adjust yourself to that, you’ll gently flow with the current.