Water is the Element of Change

Only a year after it’s release 😉 I finally took the time to experience Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

It’s a beautiful show with SO many rich and deeply moving aspects, that have taken over a month to fully process.

While I am in no way well versed in the story/lore, yet 😉 , I have several quotes from each episode written on a little floral notepad I keep on my couch for when something I’m viewing, reading or listening to strikes a particular chord.

I’ll very likely break those down in a separate post about the show specifically, however, for the purposes of this post, I am focusing on a short but powerful one…

“water is the element of change”

The part of the story you need to know here is that in this world there are certain people who have the ability to bend one of the four elements (Earth, Fire, Air, Water). When we find our main characters, rather than living a peace filled existence, are enduring a 100 year long, tyrannical rule, of the Fire nation, who’ve placed themselves at the top of the bender hierarchy.

Katara is apart of the Water Nation and is a water bender but hasn’t been allowed to practice/hone her abilities because just being a bender puts her life at risk. The quest forward gives her the desire to help make her world better and the freedom to practice her bending. That isn’t a pretty process at the start and when her eagerness and inexperienced frustration collide, it slings water everywhere, lol.

This brings me to the point of the post.

We can want one thing in our lives to change SO MUCH that in the process of that desire, things change that we didn’t necessarily think we wanted to…but, perhaps that’s exactly what is needed.

This is place/space I found myself in these first few months of the year.

My creative flow has been at an all time high, I already have a livelihood that is deeply meaningful, my relationships with family/friends are in a healthy place and I’ve found my rhythm with my health/wellness…yet, something wouldn’t let me fully feel those things.

All to often the more I “tried to”, the more water I got everywhere (sometimes very literally).

The above mentioned quote has come to mind many times, as has the art of bending itself.

The most beautiful aspect of bending the elements, to me, is that you have to feel it and let it move through you vs seeking to bend it to your own will. Pretty powerful, right? Katara is faced with some intense situations as the story progresses and with each surrender to the element, she’s given more accuracy in the execution, almost like it’s wanted to help her all along.

For weeks I have marinated on exactly what I just said in regard to the personal growth that happens daily in my life, my dreams/goals and how that forms the future. I could ask or want, just about anything for the present/future but if I don’t let it do what it’s going to do, I am betting the course will be harder to navigate as I come to it. I really don’t want that!

Personally, I think we have a great deal to learn from all of the elements and there is great description of them in a book that brought great transformation in my life (Becoming the One).

But today, water is my teacher and it’s telling me that I can’t ask for change and then resist it’s coming…

I’ve got to let it flow and trust the process along the way!

~CNC ❤