A Meditation: Mountain Stream after Summer Rain

written by a human, art by Adobe Firefly beta

You close your eyes and focus on the sound of your breath. Looking into your visual field, you notice the movement and energy you see there. You take a deep breath, and exhale slowly. After a few more deep breaths, you focus all your attention onto the feeling of breathing, on your nose, your chest and stomach expanding and contracting.

Once you’ve settled in, you picture yourself walking on a trail at the bottom of the mountain. You can hear the soft sounds of water, and you notice the smell of a fresh rain. You look down and realize the ground is a little muddy. But that’s ok, you have waterproof shoes on.

You walk slowly towards the sound, hearing your feet crunching on the rocks and leaves, until you find the stream. You follow it upstream until you see where it flows down the mountain. You feel the sun coming out from behind the clouds and warming your skin. As you look up, the waters reflect the light of the stream flowing down, shimmering in your eyes like crystals by a window.

You walk close enough to the water that you can see individual swirls and eddies, moving around the rocks and sticks in the water. You realize that each drop of water that rushes by you is unique like a moment in time. No two drops are the same; each one is unique in its shape, its journey, and its reflections. Similarly, each moment you experience is singular, irreplaceable, and special.

 Now you imagine yourself as one of these droplets. You started off in a cloud somewhere far off, drifting across the sky. You ended up on the peak of the mountain as part of a small thundershower, but you don’t remember the fall. You’re peaceful where you are, but you feel yourself slowly start to move.

You slowly travel through the terrain, encountering other drops, merging, parting, and continuing the journey. You join more and more droplets, traveling downwards, until you slowly merge into a creek, and then over some rocks, and then into a brook. Eventually you find yourself flowing into the stream at the bottom of the mountain, and now you’re passing a person, standing on the side of the stream, gazing into the water.

 Just like these drops of water have a unique path, so does every moment in your life. Each carry with it, its own essence – its own emotions and its own experiences. You dwell on the realization of how infinite each moment really is. You reflect on the sheer magnitude of events, decisions, and cosmic dances that led you to this exact moment in time, and to you experiencing this thought. The odds are astronomical, yet here you are, in this singular, unparalleled moment.

As you breath deeply, you embrace the beauty and depth of what is now. You realize that all of life’s truth, and all of life’s beauty, can only be found here. You also recognize its fleeting nature, just like that water droplet that flows past and will never return here again. In its transience lies its magic.

In this moment, among the intricate tapestry of existence, you are here, you are present, and you are alive.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed or lost, you know you can return to this mountain stream. It can remind you of the beauty, and the pure magic, of each passing moment.