Allowing for Difference

This world is full of all kinds of wonders, and we meet all kinds of people.

Some of them make us uncomfortable. The way they do things, the way they think, is very different from us. Some don't even know that what they've done has hurt others, and brought a little less beauty into the world.

In the past, when I met people like this, I'd feel myself, almost without noticing, put up a little guard. I'd want to keep my distance from them.

But the real world is just like this. We have to allow for difference. Different nationalities, different families, different experiences, all shape people of different characters and minds.

Sometimes, it makes me a little sad.

Then I realized something. The moment I put up that guard, my whole self tightened. I couldn't loosen. And that tightness would follow me all the way into the night, until I couldn't sleep.

That's when I understood that, for me, being on guard isn't protecting myself, it's wearing myself down. Because I'm a person who lives by being relaxed. The moment I guard myself, I'm no longer me.

So then, without a guard, how do I keep those people from affecting me? I thought about it, and I thought of water.

Water doesn't fight, doesn't grab. It isn't tense, doesn't force, and doesn't guard itself. It simply stretches out, naturally. Whatever comes, it meets it calmly, without panic, and without struggle.

In this life, we meet many things, and many people. Some of them will make us uncomfortable. But slowly I've come to understand that real strength isn't about resisting, or guarding, or struggling against them. It's about being like water, quietly being yourself, unmoved by others.

To be able to quietly be yourself, unshaken by the things outside, this is real inner strength.

This is also why I love this Gordon Gu Water Mirror.

It is the natural shape of water in the very moment it splashes up. Look at it, stretching out so naturally, without the slightest effort or pretense.

I love it because it is exactly what I want to become. Not fighting, not grabbing, not tense, not forcing, not guarded, simply, quietly, naturally stretching out, being myself.

It turns out that little bit of sadness came to help me. It showed me this self, looser, and stronger.

— Marie, Founder of Lyfairs