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A rock does not adjust to its environment. Its shape is set in stone, literally.
Water is malleable. It accommodates itself to its environment wherever it goes. It yields to everything and is therefore stopped by nothing.
Hence Bruce Lee says: Be water, my friend.
Adaptability and flexibility frequently appear in philosophy, which is a practical guide to living, and it is key to the practices of meditation, yoga, and martial arts.
A man is born gentle and weak; at his death, he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life; dry and brittle in death.
Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life. An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.
The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.
– Lao Tzu
Be Water, My Friend
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup; it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.
– Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee’s ‘Be Water, My Friend’ Video
How Does One ‘Become Water’?
One can ‘be water’ by adopting the qualities of water.
Accept ‘What is’
Water doesn’t think it is a rock. It accepts itself and then decides its actions based on the situation.
Accepting who you are and your current reality is natural when you like what you see.
But you have got to accept ‘what is,’ particularly when you don’t like it. Denial of reality is the root cause of misery in humans. Radical acceptance of ‘what is’ is the beginning of the journey to personal growth.
Only when you accept current reality will you act on it, and only when you act, can you change it.
Some things will always be outside of your control. Radical acceptance of things outside your control will free your time and energy – from being stressed and frustrated – and free them to focus on areas you can change.
Adapt To Your Environment
Water watches its surrounding environment and adapts its approach – stop, merge, flow, freeze, fall – based on the situation it faces.
Change is the only thing constant in this world. The only thing we can predict about the future is this: it will be different.
Being adaptable means being ready to face any situation you find yourself in. You are prepared to change as the world changes and stay relevant.
You have reached this far. Be confident that you are finding, and will continue to find your way ahead, no matter what obstacles appear.
Be Focused
Water has very few goals: to find its level and to flow to the sea. It doesn’t have a plan, but it follows an approach untiringly to achieve these goals.
Focus on a few goals in life. Don’t waste your time and energy on a hundred goals defined by you or by others for you.
The key is to define goals that are meaningful to you. Take advice from others, but formulate your own goals.
Consciously accept the sacrifice of aspects that are not your goal.
Be Present
Water reminds us to relax and go with the flow, be in the moment. Let things happen and enjoy the journey.
The past and the future do not exist. They are time, a creation of our mind. These creations of our mind use most of the processing time of the mind. Mind is a bio-computer.
The only time that we can experience is now.
Experience now and revel in the spontaneity and surprise it brings.
Be At Peace, But Full Of Potential
A mind that is continually thinking, calculating, churning is not at peace. A mind that is not peaceful drains mental energy.
Our mental energy is ample for living, but most of it is wasted in unproductive thoughts – past, future, fear, anger, and expectations.
Keep expectations to a minimum, and practice being at peace – yet full of potential.
Learn the art of meditation, yoga, or immerse yourself in something that makes you forget the time (which as I said is a creation of mind).
Bruce Lee’s Philosophy
Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism influenced Bruce Lee’s philosophy.
Bruce Lee lived his philosophies believing that philosophies are meant to be applied not just pondered.
Watch the brief video below (4 mins) to understand some aspects of this philosophy.
A few quotes of Bruce Lee’s philosophy below. Visit Bruce Lee’s Philosophy page for more.
Be action oriented.
Be a practical dreamer backed by action.
Understand your experiences. Distill them into your own unique philosophy, your practical guide to living.
Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is essentially your own.
Any Knowledge Leads to Self-Knowledge
Bruce Lee believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts.
For some, the field of knowledge may be agriculture and for others, physics, or banking, or computer science. However, all branches of knowledge eventually converge to self-knowledge.
All paths lead to the one path.
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This is beautiful! I loved the reference to water. It’s true when you think about it, that flexibility is a companion of life and stillness/stiffness of death. I never really thought of it before. Wow, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hello! Thank you for this article! I really like this metaphor… and if everything sounds like “heard” I personally enjoy and need to read it again and again in different ways, from different sources Bruce Lee is my first time! Also, as a traveller I always say that the best quality is to be flexible, to adapt, to melt into a place, a culture… so from now on I will repeat your words: adapt like water! Really enjoy reading!