The swirls in the water come from below, pushing onto the surface of the water. They make little circular discs that travel smoothly down the thirty metre wide river.
Bigger ones drift and swirl faster, which shows the different speeds the river flows at. Different speeds at different places. Like the speed of life varying from moment to moment, day to day but over all traveling at the same speed.
Further out from the bank, in the middle of the river, whirlpool eddies spin the fastest, the pressures pushing up from below as the water moves like the clouds through the sky that it reflects. That reflection is best in the morning and in the afternoon with luminous sunsets.
That strong reflection of heaven on earth.
When you are in your practice, with your breath, embodying what you are doing. Working your garden, being with your pet, tending your home, doing your work, when you are doing that, whilst watching the breath, as you move, that can become reflective.
And those reflections can be shocks of magnified awareness. Like those magnifying mirrors! Have you ever caught yourself by surprise with one of them? We don’t normally see and connect to ourselves so closely but after the initial startle there can be breakthroughs of contentment.
Being with the breath will enhance your connection to your body and mind. And that enhanced awareness can be used to view the rest of the world more pleasantly.
Whilst doing your thing with the breath, you promote contentment within. But like the shock of the magnified mirrors, the exaggerated view and connection to self tends to dissipate, but the more you connect to the breath the easier it is to reconnect.
Also when you are able to glance at yourself with the breath in mind, it also allows you to let go of impressions, judgements, fears, and anxieties.
So you can take a breath to reacquaint yourself with the whole situation as it is, a flowing river, a swirling cloud, a luminous sunset.
