Dissecting Bruce Lee's Mind Like Water Quote

Описание: Let’s dissect Bruce Lee's quote piecemeal first when he says “Empty your mind” he is talking about the constant inner dialogue that we all have which keeps our minds busy. This idea is very similar to the a quote from Seneca, a stoic philospher who said that “We suffer more often in imagination that in reality.” What Bruce Lee is saying here that when we move to a more open state, move clutter off to the side, become neutral we become available to receive in a non-judgemental way. Now this emptiness isn't a negative thing like one would think - Shannon Lee explains in the book. Emptiness is a state of openness and neutrality that allows you to consider a new point of view that's unclouded by your beliefs, judgments or preferences. "Without being open to the possibility of what there is to discover, we'll never expand our knowledge, and our growth will be stunted and slowed," she writes. An empty vessel can accept anything it wants to receive. This neutrality creates heightened awareness and is a high energy state where we are hyper present, not passively judging others which might limit our experience of life and are superopen. All of this for just the first 3 words of the quote.

Water is used in this quote as a metaphor for life. Life is a process, non-stop activity, life is like a river just flowing. Life doesn’t get stale; like water it keeps flowing. Flow around the obstacles like water - if stuck. Here is a story from Bruce Lee’s life - Bruce Lee’s famous show The green Hornet and his character the Kato got cancelled and he had a tough time getting hollywood roles. He was told that a chinese man as a lead in america would not work with the audiences... basically that he cannot be a star in hollywood. So he went to Hong Kong where he was a child movie star and he was seen as someone who had made it big in hollywood when he hadn’t at the time, did some movies which were blockbuster hits and then came back to Hollywood. Just like when you strike or punch water it moves out of the way, this idea can be applied to life’s obstacles. Another water Aha moment -from his life was when his Gung Fu teacher Yip Man made famous as the IP man in hollywood movies asked him to leave and embark on a process of self-discovery. An angry and disappointed Bruce Lee was on a boat in the Hong Kong harbor - one hand hanging from the side of the boat he smacked the water hard in frustration, water moved out of the way, it slipped smoothly between his fingers when he tried to grasp it. In this moment he understood this idea - You can’t hurt water as it is soft but it can be very powerful when it is in the hurricane state - you get the idea.

The focus of this philosophy is in the Suppleness, pliability. "If you cannot be pliable in your thinking or your response to a situation, then you have limited your options for success, for growth and for joy," Shannon Lee writes in the book.

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