Become A Sharp Instrument

Strength born of action requires rest. Ebb and flow as nature intended.

“There is nothing constant in the universe. All ebb and flow, and every shape that’s born, bears in its womb the seeds of change.” — Ovid

Incorporate rest into your life or be worn to a dull edge.

Life ebbs and flows all around you... you who were born of this earth. Witness it in the...

• Changing seasons

• Advance and retreat of the tides

• Daily journey of the sun and moon

• Great currents of the wind and sea

• Breathing of every living being

To flow in a constant state of motion brings discord with all that surrounds you. The natural order of things is forsaken, leaving you weaker with each unobserved cycle. For a strong flow cannot exist in perpetuity without ebb.

Do you not wonder at the wisest among us?

Rest adapts the knowledge born of experience to wisdom. Each moment of time ebbing makes space for reflection and the dawning of understanding. Without rest, wisdom slips by unclaimed bereft of the space required for refinement.

Do you not wonder at the strongest among us?

Rest adapts the effects of that which resists it to greater strength and resilience. Without rest, the seeds of resistance cannot take root. The sliding window of adaptation closes. What was once strong degenerates to a weak and brittle state.

Ebb and flow with the earth as intended.

Give in to the awesome power of its natural cycles. Do not fight what nature commands. Bend as the resilient bamboo in a stiff wind. Let countless cycles make a sharp instrument of you: mind and body.

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🤔 Food for Thought:

Do you ebb and flow in your work as do the tides?

What have times of flow without ebb wrought in your life?

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⚙️ One Small Step:

When feeling overworked, consider decluttering what lies before you. Make use of the Pareto Principle. Identify those things in your life that bring the most results... the 20% of effort that brings 80% of the results. Focus intently on those things.