How to walk on ice – as a metaphor for living

There is sheer ice on the sidewalk outside my house today. I love walking on that ice – especially when I’m able to really glide.

Other people in my neighborhood are terrified when they walk on the ice – and thus approach it fearfully, with tension in their bodies.

I grew up in Wisconsin where we had a lot of snow and ice. So, as a child, I spent many hours walking and running on ice without much fear. What I learned then (and remember to this day) is that you can’t fight the ice when you’re walking or running on it; you need to pay attention to your feet, but also understand that you’re in a dance with the ice and that it’s going to make you slip, whether you like it or not.

I also learned as a child is that it’s a lot of fun to enjoy (rather than resist) the ride on the ice, and that, as long as I go with the flow, it’s not that hard to navigate.

Many branches of Eastern philosophy (including the martial arts) describe an idealized mind-state characterized by relaxed attention. Here, for example, is a quote from the Buddhist Kindred Sayings in which the Buddha describes, in characteristically cryptic language, how he crossed a flood:

“When tarrying, friend, I sank, and when struggling, I was swept away. So, friend, it is by not tarrying and not struggling that I have crossed the flood.”

By virtue of my snow-filled childhood, I’ve learned how to achieve a joyful and effective state of relaxed attention when walking on ice. I continue trying to learn to do that same thing when navigating my way through the rest of my daily life. It’s not a bad way to live.