Never the Same River Twice

Some messages come to us more than once in a season...

And for this, there is always a reason...

I read this quote by Heraclitus, that has come to me over and over again, each time revealing another layer of meaning:

"You can never step into the same river twice."

And then, I stumble across this clarification in the wonderful book, Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression, by James S. Gordon, MD:

"We cannot step into the same river once;
by the time the second foot falls,
we're already entering a different river.
This river of continual change is our life."

And as the author of this insight work notes, "there are times when we resist the pull of the river..."

I read on, and find much that speaks to me, that I will share later, but for the second time in a month, the same passage from the Tao Te Ching comes to me, and I realize the quote from Heraclitus, and this passage, come bearing insights and gems of wisdom. Perhaps there are pearls in there for you as well...

"To be whole, let yourself break.
To be straight, let yourself bend.
To be full, let yourself be empty.
To be new, let yourself wear out.
To have everything, give everything up.

Knowing others is a kind of knowledge;
Knowing yourself is wisdom.
Conquering others requires strength;
Conquering yourself is true power.
To realize that you have enough is true wealth.
Pushing ahead may succeed,
but staying put brings endurance.
Die without perishing, and find the eternal.

To know that you do not know is strength.
Not knowing that you do not know is a sickness.
The cure begins with the recognition of the sickness.

Knowing what is permanent: enlightenment.
Not know what is permanent: disaster.
Knowing what is permanent opens the mind.
Open mind, open heart.
Open heart, magnanimity."