CLIMBING THE LAKE

There once was a woman who spent her whole life climbing a very tall mountain. She began as a child and could not remember a time before the mountain. Year after year as she ascended steep cliffs, she became a master at climbing. Climbing felt as natural as breathing.

One day she reached the top of the mountain. She was overjoyed with her achievement. She couldn't wait to conquer another mountain. But as she looked out over the horizon, she saw a beautiful blue lake, stretching out as far as her eyes could see. Being a climber all of her life, she had never seen a lake. She wasn't really sure what it was. All she knew was she was attracted to the strange blue expanse.

After spending some time watching the water from the top of her mountain, she decided the lake must be some kind of a blue mountain. The only way to continue her journey was to cross over the odd-looking blue form.

The mountain woman jumped into the water and began trying to "climb the lake." She used the same motions she had used to climb the mountain. At first, she could not understand why she wasn't making any progress. She felt exhausted. She mustered up all of her energy and tried "climbing" even harder, faster, stronger...her fingers trying to grasp the blue water, and her legs pumping up and down as she was so used to doing.

But her efforts were useless. She wasn't going anywhere.

As the woman was furiously climbing, she was surprised to notice a man floating by on top of the blue water, gently gliding over the surface with only the slightest movement of his arms and legs. He saw the woman struggling in the water and called out to her.

"What are you doing there, my friend?" he asked.

"What does it look like?" she answered, her face flustered with embarrassment. "I'm climbing."

"Good woman," the man of the lake replied, "Don't you know that you can't cross a lake by climbing it? The only way to travel through the water is to swim."

"Swim? I'm such a marvelous climber," the woman said. "I've spent my whole life learning to climb. I can climb any mountain. I can reach the top of any peak. There must be some way I can climb the lake."

"I'm sure you are an excellent climber," the man of the lake replied politely. "But that skill won't help you here in the water. It took one kind of wisdom to get you to the top of the mountain. You had to make your power stronger than the mountain. Now you need to learn another kind of wisdom to get across the lake. You need to surrender to the power of the water. You don't have to try so hard anymore. In fact, the less you try, the better you'll do!"

And so it was the man of the lake taught the woman of the mountain to swim.

At first, she splashed and thrashed around in the water, for she was accustomed to using her very strong energy in her climbing. But her teacher was very patient, and slowly she learned to float on the water's surface. She allowed the waves and the wind to carry her gently forward.

The mountain woman learned that the strength of surrender was just as powerful as the strength of pushing forward.

Where in your life are you trying so hard? Perhaps the answer is not in pushing harder, but in learning to let go.