Daily Practice ·
The practice of water that does not break: look today at what in you does not change
A brief exercise to face the fear of ending and discover, without drama, that in you there is something that forms cannot reach: what changes form does not stop being.
By Pedro J. Pérez
There is a thought that almost all of us discreetly push aside: that this ends. It does not need to be a declared fear; that muffled haste is enough, that inability to be still, that feeling that the day slips through your fingers. Many times what we call stress is only the polite form of a deeper fear.
The text that inspires this practice proposes something simple and demanding at the same time: to look at that fear without fleeing. Not to become reckless or indifferent, but to discover that the essential in us did not begin yesterday and will not end with the last breath. Like water, which takes the shape of the glass, the river or the cloud without ceasing to be water. Today you are going to dedicate a quarter of an hour to verifying it in your own experience, without believing anything you have not seen for yourself.
The practice Duration: 15 minutes
Sit down and name what is there
Find a place where no one will interrupt you for five minutes. Sit with your back straight and your hands on your thighs. Do not try to empty your head. Simply observe what appears when there is nothing to do: restlessness, images, plans, a pang of anguish. Name it silently: "haste," "fear," "tiredness." Naming is not solving; it is to stop pretending it is not there.
Breathe without counting anything
For three or four minutes, follow the air without controlling it. Notice how it enters cool and leaves warm. Do not seek calm; just accompany it. When the mind goes elsewhere, return to the air without scolding yourself. This coming and going is the practice, not a failure of the practice.
Ask what it is that does not change
With your eyes closed, review what you have been: child, adolescent, someone with another job, other faces, other fears. All of that changed. Now ask yourself, without haste: what has been present in all those versions? Do not look for a philosophical answer. Perhaps you notice an attention that watches, a capacity to love, something that recognizes. Stay there for a minute, without grasping it.
Look at a form that transforms
Open your eyes and look for something nearby that changes form without ceasing to be: the steam from a cup, a plant that grows, your own breathing. Spend two minutes looking at it calmly. It is not about thinking about death, but about seeing, in something small and everyday, that transforming is not disappearing. Let that evidence accompany you for the rest of the day.
To reflect on today
What part of your day today was driven by the urgency that something not end, and what would have changed if you had lived it from what remains in you?
To finish
There is no need to have the mystery solved in order to live with less fear. It is enough to have looked today, even for an instant, at that which in you was not born and does not break. When that gaze is repeated, the day gains presence and loses haste; and what before seemed a wall begins to show itself as what it is: a door that opens toward another form. Health warning: this content is informative and does not replace medical care. Consult your doctor to assess your situation and before changing any treatment. Health notice: this content is for information and does not replace medical care. Consult your doctor to assess your situation and before changing any treatment.