None of us can achieve anything great if we focus on the toughness of the process. Only persistent work, training and faith in the process will get us through the hardship to a place we want to be at.
Jose Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman from El Salvador who lived in a place called Tonala survived 13 months being lost at sea on his boat. How did he manage to do that? How did he manage to survive such an ordeal on a small boat?
When he was asked these questions his answer was faith. “I never thought that I would die. I knew that I will survive”, he replied.
It’s not like he didn’t have his dark moments and doubts; 2 times he tried to kill himself but, his faith was always stronger; his faith helped him survive, not an year lost at sea, but more than 365 times being lost at sea; he survived every single day over and over again.
He was hunting his food every single day by fishing and eating raw birds. He was collecting rain water and when it wasn’t raining he was drinking bird blood and sometimes even his own urine to satisfy his thirst.
He had a friend the first month, a guy named Ezequiel Córdova who died because he refused to eat raw birds. The inability to adapt to this new scenario killed Ezequiel.
Jose’s persistence of doing the same thing every day kept him alive those 13 months. His faith made him endure the process. His faith made him “be like water” to survive the sea.
That’s the last thing Bruce Lee tries to tell with his quote “…..Be water, my friend.”, to be enduring.
To have faith in the process even without knowing for how long we have to keep on doing the same thing. To endure by focusing on “Why are we doing this?” instead of “How much longer we need to keep doing this?”
If anybody understands and implements these 3 factors, to be adaptable, persistent and enduring, there is Nothing that Can Stop Him From Achieving What He Wants to achieve.
That’s the whole philosophy of Bruce Lee’s quote, that’s the essence of Bruce Lee’s teachings, to be adaptable to any change and using your abilities like an art, by letting them flow freely according to the situation without a pattern or a limit.
His philosophy is that having a fighting style is just limiting yourself; that everyday situations are never the same as when we practice and they demand from us to be fluid.
We must endure to be persistent in practicing our abilities because with time, no matter how small and unnoticeable is the thing we practice, it will became our greatness.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee
We need to learn to have faith in our abilities and let them flow freely adapting to any scenario we are thrown in instead of trying to control what happens to us.
We need to free our mind, let Our Thoughts and Emotions flow freely; we need to make our mind shapeless, fluid; we need to become like water, my friends.
What Have We Learned ?
THE CODE
<To be like water we need to be adaptable, persistent and enduring in any circumstance>
Story Sources:
– http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/04/world/asia/marshall-islands-castaway/
