I recently read a story about the Lord Buddha that continues to sit at the top of my mind every morning when I wake up.  This is a clear indicator that the message here is something I could benefit from more fully adopting in my life.  It’s a message so powerful, in fact, that most people could benefit from it in both small and significant ways.  It’s a message about life, relationships, mental health, and emotional well-being, all packed into one cup of muddy, dirty water.

Without retelling the entire story verbatim, I’ll do my best to summarize.  The story is about the Buddha and a group of people learning from him while traveling.  You have to imagine what life may have been like between the 4th and 6th centuries to set the proper scene.  The short version is this: Lord Buddha asked one of his students to fetch him a drink of water from a nearby source.

When the student arrived, he observed a chaotic scene of people, animals, and vehicles passing through the water.  When he attempted to collect water, it was filled with mud and dirt and was clearly undrinkable.  He returned to the Buddha and explained what had happened.  The Buddha simply responded, “It’s okay, let’s just wait.”

Later, he sent the student back again. This time, the water was undisturbed, still, and completely drinkable.  The Buddha was pleased and drank the water.

The deeper teaching here relates to our thoughts and emotions.  Just as wild horses and carriages disturbed the water, our minds are often clouded with overthinking, emotional reactions, and constant mental activity.  For many people, their default state includes waking up with a full list of concerns that grows throughout the day rather than settles.

Now, add in a difficult interaction, especially with someone you care about, and the mind can feel like it’s moving at a thousand miles per hour.

The Buddha’s simple teaching, “just wait”, is a masterpiece in how to live.  When you experience a strong emotion, rather than immediately act on it, it is often wiser to pause.  In this story, the mud represents emotional disturbance. When you allow time and space, the mud naturally settles.  Your mind becomes clearer, and you can respond from a more balanced place rather than reacting impulsively.

From an energetic perspective, as Master Choa Kok Sui teaches, strong negative emotions disturb the flow of prana and create congestion in the energy body. When we react immediately, we intensify this disturbance.  When we pause, breathe, and allow the energy to settle, the prana begins to normalize, bringing clarity and calmness back to the system.

This space between stimulus and response is where your power lives.

The most effective way to strengthen this awareness is through meditation.  Meditation is simply the practice of observing your thoughts, emotions, and body without immediately reacting.  It can feel difficult at first, but like anything, it becomes easier with practice.

Meditation is not tied to any one religion.  It is a universal life skill.  In fact, in Pranic Healing, meditation is used to cleanse the energy body, release emotional congestion, and increase the flow of prana, allowing for greater peace, clarity, and vitality.

As the saying goes, “Everyone should meditate for five minutes a day...unless you don’t have time, then you should meditate for an hour.”

​​Practicing this may be the difference between constantly “drinking” the mud of life’s disturbances and allowing things to settle so you can instead sip from the clarity, balance, and peace that are always available to you.