Zen and the art of white water rafting

I had a conversation with my wife today (which I seem to do quite often) and she talked about taking action. It reminded me of what I used to tell clients that I took white water rafting.

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It goes something like this –

On the river,( as in life) you can go faster than the water or slower than the water and you will have control of the raft.

If you go at the same speed as the river, or go with the flow, the river controls the raft and that never ends well. Sooner or later you will get monstered in a rapid, and if you are lucky, spat out the other side. If you’re not lucky, in the rapid is where you’ll stay.

So the trick is to keep control of your raft, move forward or backwards, but never just float along letting the river decide where you go. This advice has served me well on the river and in life.

It didn’t stop me from getting dumped out in white water, but it meant I could direct where in the rapid I got dumped, and that makes all the difference.

In case you are wondering, I’ve swum (not on purpose) in some pretty big rapids – including grade 5 on the Zambezi River. At the time it can be scary, but if you know what you are doing and have a plan and purpose, you can get through it and find the eddy on the other side, take a breath, and then get back on the raft.

And that brings me to another quote that I heard from some friends in the military in my younger days.

They said, often in battle it's not the force with superior numbers or weaponry that wins the day. It is the side that decides on a course of action and then moves with purpose and aggression to follow that course of action. It's the side that gets bogged down and can’t move that often loses.

So combine the two thoughts -
control your raft, decide on a course and then follow that course with purpose and aggression, and you’ll win the day.

And if you are going to go rafting, can you pick me up on the way? I miss being on the river.

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