A Little Mountain Stream Has No Goals
01. Nov, 2009 
29 Comments
While commenting on a friend’s Facebook note about setting goals, reaching for your big year, I started typing about an experience I’d just had driving through the mountains today. This is the actual picture I took, and what I wrote. I hope it helps you lighten up.
This afternoon I drove up into the snowy Rocky Mountains as the sun was setting on a blue sky beautiful day. I stopped by a fast moving stream where it tumbled over these slate gray rocks deep in a gorge bathed in blue gray light.
Ice cold – crystal clear – it poured from somewhere far up in the mountains inevitably down into Golden. Nothing in the world was going to stop it.
No one could discourage the water or throw it off course.
Not too deep, it’s power at any point drawn from the momentum of millions of gallons behind it and further ahead. Every drop from snowfall to river to lake exactly where it was supposed to be at this exact moment, and in each moment that followed it down.
This is what I’m shooting for.
To stop all the reaching, the struggle to wriggle out of one imagined fix and into another – but, to be here, and be me, and do just what I do without anyone else’s opinion or agenda.
So, I pull myself as close to the side of my own pool as possible, and use my own strength to spring hard from the cement and into the deep end without reservation. This is how it feels.
This is not my big year. This is not my big month. This is not my big season. I’ve thrown the calendar into the trash to live day to day and try to draw on that small but mighty stream – to water the world I’m meant to reach and nothing more.
Love to you my reader. May you find this snapshot helpful in stopping your stress about your business and giving you a quiet place to know how cool you are and how what you are is the key to what you ought to be doing next.
Rick
Hey, Rick!
I think I’ve been to that Very Spot! [Geez, I miss the Colorado] If it’s the stream ending in Golden that I’m thinking of, That water is very likely the water source of Coors Beer…which is useful to consume before ‘marking’ one’s territory. Thanks for reMinding us to BE.
Jim Zaccaria´s last blog ..JimZaccaria: @CCGAL Yes, what you say is True and Max has a System where he teaches people How to use Social Media to Maximize their results
Loved this! And made meaningful by your photo. Thank you!
Mark Mitchell´s last blog ..A 24 Hour Comics Day album
Hi Rick,
Great post big Bro. love it!
Albert
Albert Hallado´s last blog ..WordPress Theme Structure That Works For Business
You sure know how to hit the spot Rick.
This is both a very peace-enriching and confidence-enhancing post. I enjoyed it very much,… especially the bit about diving into the deep end!
Cheers, Rick.
Russ´s last blog ..27 Random Things About Me
Great words of wisdom and love the pic! Thanks, Rick!
Sandi Bird´s last blog ..Astro Restaurant: a good place to eat while adventure traveling in New York City
Brought tears to my eyes. Very meaningful.
Rick,
To be here, in this exact moment…..that is the challenge and the gift, isn’t it? I got home and read this after spending 6 hours in the Emergency Room with my mom. I needed the reminder to just be where I am. To let go of what I thought I should be doing. Let go of what I thought I wanted to be doing. Be in this exact moment and do it as well as I can.
Thank you my friend.
Shawn Driscoll´s last blog ..Bootcamps & Blueprints & Programs, Oh My! Part 2
Thank you, Rick,
This brought me back to the moment and appreciating the beauty I have in my own life.
You really have a gift for words.
Your friend,
Brennan
Hi Rick,
Beautiful…”Lao Tzuish’ (gezundheit!lol).
Terrific thought and image.
Thank you..my brother lived in Littleton for 10 years and visited there often…I loved it.
Would like to connect with you…is it possible to have a “face to phone” conversation?
Thanks Rick, for the perfect read for a Monday morning. Think I’ll skip that next cup of coffee to “catapult me into the next level of success” and go with the flow that you so beautifully described. Thanks for reminding me of the power in my own little stream — that I don’t need to crash and splash meaninglessly all over everybody, but just to gently water my own garden.
Have a great week, Rick.
Janet Hilts´s last blog ..You’re Hard-Wired To Resist Change
Rick,
Love the thought that not every day, week, month, or year has to be a “big day” and just to flow. In fact, I believe if we all would allow more flow more often in our lives, as we look back, those would be the days that were the “biggest” — and maybe for different reasons than we might plan on.
Beautiful writing and imagery my friend
Felicia
Felicia Slattery´s last blog ..How to Blow Know Like & Trust Out of the Water
Hi Rick,
Your words really resonate for me. I feel like I am in a race with everyone to see who can take the most action, implement the next big project, make the biggest splash… and in reality there is no race, no competition, no winners, no losers. There is only the choice I make to decide what is enough each day.
The stream is a frequent metaphor that I use in my hypnosis sessions to help people stop pushing so hard.
I think I need a reminder right now to put myself back into the gentle flow of life, allowing the simplicity of life to fill my soul.
Today, my daily hypno-quickie session for my peeps will be the stream.
Thank you for the inspiration and the reminder.
Wendi
Wow -Looks cold. I live near the Cascades and many of our mountain streams end up as powerful waterfalls. As it is true waterfalls also do not have any goals – it is also true that they rush towards the unknown with great power and conviction. They know they will get there to be awed at what there has to offer. This is how I choose to look at life!
Dotty
Dotty´s last blog ..Twitter Lists: Local Marketing Potential
In case anyone reading thinks I’m some mellowed out zen guy with my chill factor to the bone – forget it. These are the hopeful observations of someone who has had a ton of experience yielding to the temptations of overdoing it!
Thank you to EVERYONE who has said such kind things here, and:
To Shawn; 6 hours in the emergency room with your mom is not what I was aiming at when I wrote this but, there is nothing more stressful than that. I see how the “be where you are and be okay with it” perspective can be helfpul, though so hard to come by when you are where you are tonight.
To Wendi; All of us are cobblers with barefoot children. (Hey that’s a pretty good blog post title!) I believe that part of it is that we absorb the inertia of others whom we try to help. What I’m trying to do here – and with the 7 Little Choices book – is to begin a paradigm shift about what true success for the idea entrepreneur is all about.
To Felicia; This stream is the reality that is flowing through your life, even if the chaos of others demands are creating a fiction that looks real.
To David; Shoot me @rickbutts Tweet and we’ll figure something out.
To everyone – print this post out and put it on your wall – like a little Successories thing. Maybe remembering that stream is there even while we are in the office, will help.
Just for today I’m going with the flow and remembering who I am.
Thanks for the “little splash in the face.”
Hey Allie
Remembering who you are is essential, yet, so easily forgotten as we fight that battle to figure out how to turn it into making money. Twisting ourselves into the predictable shapes of the expectations of the market or of our limiting beliefs rarely brings the kind of satisfaction that comes from alignment.
I know I make it sound so easy, and it’s not. The noise to conform is LOUD.
Best to you today my friend…
Lovely. Thanks Rick.
Say it isn’t so!
There are a zillion go-with-the-flow serendipitous zen meisters out there, but very very few manic, wise-ass, cranky geniuses.
I hope the real Rick comes up for air and remembers what the world really needs him for.
Steve
I Love you for writing this Rick. Thank you for “getting” it – the connection to nature – who will show us all whatever it is that we need to know – and will always always support us – is vital to re-member now.
Many blessings as you babble along – merrily merrily merrily merrily down the stream – life IS but a Dream!
Peace and joy,
Amethyst
Amethyst Wyldfyre´s last blog ..A Very Special Call with A Very Special Friend!
Hey Markowski! Thanks for supporting my usual loud barking – and thanks to Amethyst for supporting my occasional gentle purr….
Hmmmm – God did awesome with streams, nature, our surroundings
I love it. I enjoy it. I take care of it.
But…I can’t overlook that the stream is ‘driven’ to fulfil it’s purpose.
It won’t be stopped.
It will go over or around obstacles.
It will do what it was created to do.
It may not have a timeframe…but it absolutely has a purpose and will not be deterred from that.
So…I see the same stream…and get perhaps a different message.
I won’t be dissuaded from setting goals, implementing or being ‘intentional’ — like the stream, I feel like that’s what I was created to do, to be.
I think we can be ‘in flow’ and still be striving towards our ultimate direction.
Carrie Wilkerson
The Barefoot Executive
PS…hesitating to publish this — all I see is a ‘submit’ button and you know that is SO against my nature… LOL
Hey Carrie -
I totally agree with the purpose part. I didn’t mean to leave that out. I guess I just assumed (for my readers) that purpose was already in place.
But, now that you mention it, a CLEAR purpose would hopefully eliminate all that frantic hyperactivity. In fact – what IS a big year, a BIG success, BIG anything in this context but something we cobble together from our own imagination and the opinions of others.
Purpose – stream – hmmmmm…. Authentic understanding of who we really are?
Thanks for taking the time.
Hi Rick:
This is beautiful – remember who you are and non-striving (wu-wei). Thanks for the reminder to just BE.
Your friend,
Hueina
Hueina Su´s last blog ..Stop, Drop and Roll Out of Overwhelm
Thanks Hueina -
I’m fairly astounded at the response this post has gotten. When I wrote it, I was pretty sure that one or two people would say something nice, but mostly I figured that the business readers would say “fluff” and wonder where the make money, list building, twitter tips would be.
I’m excited to see that something soulful would matter. And, it was written by a MAN for crying out loud.
I’ve been thinking of moving the business part of this site to StardustFactor.com – and continuing to write Rick Stuff here. I also own IMHBAO.com (in my humble but accurate opinion) so I could use that site for my Rick Stuff and keep the biz stuff here.
More and more I’m wanting to separate things – but, maybe it should all flow through here. Like a river.
Queer coincidence?
I just finished reading the chapter titled “Giving Up Role Playing” in Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”.
“Every role is a fictitious sense of self, and through it everything becomes personalized and thus corrupted and distorted by the mind-made ‘little me’ and whatever role it happens to be playing….
If you can be absolutely comfortable with not knowing who you are, then what’s left is who you are – the Being behind the human, a field of pure potentiality rather than something that is already defined.
You cannot be more than you are because underneath your physical and psychological form, you are one with Life itself, one with Being.”
= = =
And then I read this post!
Nice one, Rick
All success
Dr.Mani
Brilliant image.
I often ask myself, “am I flowing downstream?”. Because if I’m not, the chance is that I’m struggling and wasting my energy on activities that aren’t going to help me or others.
Where as when I let go! And let life flow! It is amazing to watch how synchronicity happens, and my life becomes magical
love&gratitude
Sarah O xx
In Light and Love
Sarah´s last blog ..LiveinFlow: RT @TruthsCompany My good friend & international bestselling author Brandon Bays launches her new book tonight: http://is.gd/4I6vy
“To stop all the reaching, the struggle to wriggle out of one imagined fix and into another – but, to be here, and be me, and do just what I do without anyone else’s opinion or agenda.”
I so relate with that statement. To be authentic, true to one’s own-self without pressing to be and do – or who someone says I should be (at a particular time and place). It certainly would be a press towards a vision of what I may perceive to be right based off of emotion or anxiousness, instead of what I know to be true within me.
Success for *me* is very, very similar to what you wrote here (changed it a bit) “exactly where it is supposed to be at the exact moment, and in each moment that follows.”
I’m ‘anxious for nothing…” — thanks for bringing this back to my remembrance
What a freeing article. I’ve always felt that being ‘led’ is easier and usually more productive than trying to force my life to fit a set of goals. Like the stream, my life flows toward wherever I’m supposed to be, blessing whomever I chance to meet.
God does that as we trust Him to lead us. Even if we have clouds, His sky is always blue…
RuthSeebeck´s last blog ..An Inspirational Video 4 – 12 Things to Remember