Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 15, 2008


Drought burns basins to dust,
Light rain is a dew of mockery.
Receive without complaint,
Work with fate.

- Taoist thought

Before writing this Reflection, I am standing at the stove waiting for my wonderful espresso stove-top pot to do its thing. I love this pot! It was a gift from a dear friend, bought on the day that several of us friends sat in the Café FIorian in Venice and drank wonderful coffee and ate “sinfully” good pastries (at ridiculously sinful prices!). I’m dreading the day that I accidently drop it in the sink and the top part, which is porcelain, embossed with the crest of the Café Florian, smashes.

One tries to be careful. But. Things happen. Even being too careful can be counter-productive. A pot gripped too tightly can go flying off. It’s the same with Life gripped too tightly – one’s own or another’s.

Where did the phrase “Go with the flow” come from? Oh, I know that one has to take some responsibility for making appropriate decisions. Including not making certain decisions.

I think I am going to take a stab, on regular intervals, at Living in the Flow. It seems to me that there is a great Mystery in the “Flow”. An antidote to the stresses of control, which is, for the most part, a fool’s hope.

No – there has to be an art in Going with the Flow. Like flow-blue china, it makes for very interesting non-perfection.

Hey, you know, I feel better already!

Time for demi-tasse #2. With maybe an Italian biscuit.

Brian+