“Life is water flowing through our hands.” explains David Chernikoff in a recent talk.

In this talk, Chernikoff talks about understanding life as a process. The experience of being alive is one of flow and constant change and transition.

One of the greatest sources of suffering is our resistance to change. Somehow the usual workings of our minds think of the world as static. Right now I am surrounded by trees, greens of all shades, and I can toggle between seeing this visual feast as a still photograph, a wall of unchanging green-ness OR a flowing, changing panorama of slow-medium-fast movements and change.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you SEE.” — Henry David Thoreau.

Chernikoff quotes the nature photographer, Eric Stensland:

“Life is a lot like standing under a waterfall. Each moment comes at us so quickly and then before we even realize it, it’s gone…We can’t stop, hold or control any of these drops that fall into our lives.

Perhaps maturity is learning to open our hands in welcome, choosing to relish the way each moment of life washes over us, at peace with the knowledge that what life brings is outside of our control. The only control we have is how we choose to respond to it.

Much like a waterfall, when we step back and look at the whole of it, we realize this fleeting life is exquisitely beautiful.”

Yes.

For me, having a living mindfulness practice helps me cultivate appreciation for this exquisite, sacred life. I have been in beautiful places where I have missed the experience because of a busy mind. I have been in situations where things are terribly difficult and my reactions make them worse.

Practicing mindfulness on a regular basis, and in community, creates the conditions for me to show up for life, and to connect and engage with kind compassion.