I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that we all know who Bruce Lee is.  He was a sensation in the 1960’s and 1970’s starting from his role of Kato in the Green Hornet, all the way up to his death in 1973.  His legacy still lives on today due to his movies and the discovery of his martial art Jeet Kun Do.

Now, while most people seem to think that Tao of Jeet Kune Dois an original martial arts style, they’re wrong.  It was more of a philosophy, where the martial arts were a reflection of all the martial arts techniques he had mastered over the course of his life.  It is heavily influenced by Daoism, a Chinese form of spirituality that I don’t feel right referring to as only a philosophy or a religion.

While Jeet Kune Do is a very broad philosophy, I want to focus on his ideas on water.

Please observe:

Do you understand?  If not, let me clarify.

Be whatever you need to be.  Do whatever you need to do.  Empty your mind of all ideas of who you are, and what you can do, and just do.

While Lee packaged everything around martial arts, as that is how the man earned his money, it’s not hard to see how his thoughts and philosophies can be translated to almost every aspect of life.

I’ve heard some people claim that this is a terrible philosophy to have, as it forces you to forget who and what you stand for.  I disagree.  I think it goes much deeper than that.

At the end of the day, I think what Lee was really trying to tell us is to be flexible.  At the end of the day, we don’t know everything about the world, or about other people.  All we really know about is our limited experience.

But, when you’re like water it gives you the opportunity to open your mind and to experience things as they are, NOT as you expect them to be.

This is a very powerful message, and once you adopt this mindset, your own personal power grows that much more.

Think of how much wisdom and knowledge you can absorb just by taking things as they are.  Learning from them, possibly even enjoying them despite yourself and all your preconceived notions of what should be.

Imagine how much weight this can give to your writing?  Imagine how much more you could learn from other authors with this mentality.

Imagine what an open mind can do for you repertoire as a writer!

Think of the millions of interpersonal relationships going on right now.  How many of them have the dynamics that you’ve seen/experienced yourself?

Imagine all of the people starting businesses right now.  How many of their business models is something you know anything about?

Just imagine.

The world is full of inspiration, but I think so many of us are blind to it.  I fall prey to this many times a day.  I’m always so busy, trying to get something done so I can get to the next thing I often times forget to stop and smell the roses.

I always have thoughts like I need to do this, or this should be like that.

Do I ever stop and think, “Well… maybe this way is better?”

“Maybe this will work out better than anything I could have thought up on my own?”

I know I have to force myself to do this, and I feel as if I’m getting better.  All ready am I seeing things in a different way and it’s adding to every aspect of my life, not just my writing.

So before I let you go I just want you to remember.

“Be water my friend.”

So what do you think?  Agree?  Disagree?  Think I’m nuts?  Whatever you’re thinking leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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