I closed my eyes, feeling the cold air flow through my nose as I breathed in slowly, trying to clear my mind. As I continued my slow, deliberate breathing, I felt the cold embrace me more tightly—it’s cold fingers tracing across my face that was exposed to the quiet cold of White Clay Creek this Sunday evening. I listened to the gentle flow of the creek and pondered in bemusement of its natural action. I kept my eyes closed, recalling Verse 8 of Tao Te Ching, “The best way to live/ is to be like water/ For water benefits all things/ and goes against none of them/ It provides for all people/ and even cleanses those places a man is loath to go/ In this way it is just like Tao” (Tzu 9). In a sense, I couldn’t help but think of the angelic nature of the creek. It rolled gently through Pennsylvania and Delaware, offering homes to countless creatures, water to drink for other animals, and even as a place of recreation for us humans. It provides for all people, for all creatures, without turning away a single one. Again, I let the sore irony of that sink in as the images of the toxins and waste we deposit into the creek kept appearing in my mind.

I closed my eyes, trying to regain focus, trying to prevent these painful images from blocking my path to mental clarity. I took another deep breath in, centering on the steady rhythm of my breath. Again, the sound of the creek caught my attention. This time, instead of trying to block out the sound, I tried to fixate on it. I could hear the swift rushing of the current and its clashing encounters with rocks in the streambed. I could make out where the water rapidly fell down a feet at the drop in the streambed before continuing happily on its path again. As I sat, leaving my mind open, I again my brows furrow in worry. Relax, Praneeja, I told myself. However, the stress of my daily happenings came pummeling in. I kept thinking of the 2 final papers and 2 exams I had due this week. Of how Donald Trump was President. Of the recent Ohio attack and the increasing prevalence of school attacks and violence. I felt chills up my spine.

My eyes shot open. I blinked and as the dimming sky came into clarity, I no longer felt safe in my spot in White Clay. However, in front of me, the creek continued its peaceful journey down the streambed. The Sycamore and Maple trees continued to stand tall from the forest ground, offering me a sense of protection. I heard the ever-present Belted Kingfisher, crying out in the treetops. I felt my heartbeat slow down again as I soaked in the comfort of nature’s continuity. How nice would it be if I could just go with the flow of things, just as the river did despite the obstacles (rocks) and falls that in encountered? How nice would it be if I could continue to stand tall and strong, despite my fears and stresses tugging me down, as the trees did?

I close my eyes one last time, urging myself to be still. I recall the dichotomies of the Tao Te Ching, “Life and death are born together/ Difficult and easy/ Long and short/ High and low—all these exist together/ Sound and silence blend as one/ Before and after arrive as one” (Tzu 3). Perhaps all the stresses I’ve encountered, that the world has encountered, are wholly necessary. I try to accept that. It’s hard—is violence really necessary? It’s hard to believe it to be so. Perhaps the ebbs and flows of life would be more easy to accept if I took the path of non-action like the river did, something very different from inaction. It’s a fine line that I haven’t quite differentiated yet, but believing that “Through the course of Nature/ muddy water becomes clear/ Through the unfolding of life/ man reaches perfection/ Through sustained activity/ that supreme rest is naturally found” brings me some peace (Tzu 17). I’m starting to realize that accepting the “ebbs and flows” of life does not mean I am okay with the “bad” things that are happening, but that I am accepting that some of them are bound to happen. I hope that through practicing mindfulness and wu-wei, I learn the way of taking the right action at the right time, and that the “muddy water becomes clear” and that good eventually overcomes evil.