No mud, no lotus
- Amy
- Mar 12, 2019
- 1 min read
It is serendipitous what words come out from unexpected places. While watching Avatar in Spanish (the TV show, not the movie), two words caught my attention: lodo (mud) and loto (lotus). I continued watching the show, not paying particular attention to their significance. .
After my studies, I sat for a brief meditation and suddenly the two words lept together into my mind:
If you’re curious,"No mud, no lotus" is typically translated into Spanish as “Sin lodo, no hay loto.”
The image of the mud and lotus struck me.
No terrible sounds, no beautiful music.
No messy paints, no moving artwork.
No dirty hands, no powerful engine.
No frustrations, no clarity.
In a time of working on putting together a course, there has been more than once I’ve felt stuck. Caught. Unmoving and not even sure what the next move is. Entangled in the deep muck and mire of creation.
Be curious about the mud, the muck, the trials, the frustrations. Ask why, brainstorm, mindmap. Keep moving in any direction, even if you're not yet sure it's the right one.
Remember that this struggle is a part of the process (and many would say the most important part). Trudge through the mud, get stuck, work to move forward, clean things up before finally, after time, something beautiful emerges: the lotus blooms.
“Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower grow. There cannot be a lotus flower without the mud.” -Thich Nhat Hanh-
