The Rain Notebook

I am always looking for great analogy’s and ways to be positive about situations.  I have determined to have my life full of personal growth.  Along the way of personal growth I have come across “The Boat” analogy.  What is great about this analogy is that you can share it with your friends.  You can tell them, “get out of my boat!”  This makes a comical way of telling them that you don’t want to be around their negativity.

Unfortunately I don’t know who wrote this so I can’t give them the appropriate credit, if anyone knows please let me know.

Also as you are reading this, imagine your boat.  Visualization is incredible when it comes to our mind and thoughts, so picture what you boat is!  My boat is the one from The Notebook movie. (of course!)  I love rowing in my boat and keeping it all to myself.  I hope you enjoy this analogy and your own boat!

The Boat

Just imagine there is this stream and you have a boat. You take your boat to the stream, put it in the water and then get in the boat.

The first thing you do is take your oars, place them in the water and begin rowing upstream. We row up stream based on our belief systems. Examples are “life is a struggle”, “you have to work hard for everything you get”, “I am not good enough”, “there is not enough to go around”, “I am afraid I will fail”, “I am not loveable”, “there is not enough money” etc. All of these are examples that have us “pushing against”; we are “resisting” the flow of life. So as you live your life, you unconsciously reinforce these or other belief systems. Most of us do it totally unconsciously.

You will know you are rowing upstream because you will notice you “feel bad”. You will also know because you will find yourself rationalizing, justifying and/or defending. There is nothing that you are wanting that is up stream. Everything you are wanting is already waiting for you down stream.

What you are wanting is to find a way to get your boat turned around and headed down stream. You will know when this happens because you will experience a feeling of “relief” and you will notice you “feel good”.

So let’s say you are having trouble dealing with being over weight. When you do a mental inventory, you notice you catch yourself saying things like, “I can never loose weight” or “I just look at food and I gain weight” or “I hardly eat anything and I still gain weight”.

These are beliefs that continually take you “up stream”. How do you know? Because you “feel bad” just having the thought pass through your mind. You are also rationalizing, justifying or defending.

So how can you turn your boat around? Identify the “resistance or what it is you are pushing against”, (what is it that you are worrying about, or feel frustrated about or whatever the feeling is) and talk it down.

Begin by appreciating yourself. Say to yourself statements of gratitude and appreciation such as “I know I have a weight issue, but I am more focused and doing something about it”. Does that thought feel better? “I am walking three days a week now and that makes me feel more empowered”, “I am noticing I am more aware of my food choices”. You continue to make statements that talk done the resistance until you notice you are feeling “relief”. Once you experience this feeling of relief, the current of the stream has now taken your boat and turned it down stream. Notice that you are “feeling good”.
If you are unable to talk it down, simply begin focusing your thoughts on ANYTHING that you appreciate or feel gratitude for. Examples are the fact that it’s a beautiful day, or how much you appreciate your best friend. Focus on what it is about her that you appreciate. Appreciate that you have a dishwasher or appreciate that you have two legs that get you where you want to go. Focus on ANYTHING and get into the FEELING place of appreciation and gratitude, any thought of appreciation that will shift your feelings from a “bad feeling” to a “good feeling”.

When you find yourself in a situation that you notice you are feeling impatient, frustrated, worried, angry or hopeless, stop and ask yourself “What’s more important, that I feel good or I am right?” or “What’s more important, that I feel good or get my point across?” Ask whatever question is applicable to what is going on in the moment.
Your answer will always be “that I feel good”.

It is critical to do whatever you have to, to keep your boat flowing down stream. The more you practice flowing down stream the faster your stream will begin to flow. You will begin to observe more synchronicity around you. Everything just falls into place. Life FLOWS EASILY. Everything starts going your way.

When you find yourself worrying or having concern about another person, you are in their boat. Get out!!!!!! If someone is telling you, you should do this or you should do that, they are in your boat. Get them out!!!!!

The goal is to be in your own boat, flowing down stream feeling good, feeling ultimately joyful. Stay out of everyone else’s boat; don’t let anyone in your boat. It is not your job to solve other people’s problems. Be the example for others. Learn to allow yourself to be living a life of joy and ease.

As you begin to practice and live your life in your own boat, you will be amazed how wonderful you feel. You will love the feeling of not having the weight of the world on your shoulders. You will be amazed what physical changes will take place in your body. You will be amazed at how relaxed and fun you become.

Make it a practice to tell everyone around you about the boat and how excited you are to be living this practice. Then when they try to get in your boat, you can kindly ask them to “GET OUT OF MY BOAT”. It is so wonderful. You will no longer have arguments or have to explain anything. It completely eliminates all discussion. As everyone realizes you are wanting to flow only down stream and they see how much fun you are having with the boat, but most importantly, how much you are growing and becoming fun to be with, don’t worry they will begin practicing the boat as well.

Benefits include being in the present moment; the knowledge of knowing you are not responsible for anyone or for their choices, the awareness that you can’t fix others and the relief the comes by not trying to, the awareness of your own feelings, hopes, wishes and desires. You will feel true joy as you love others unconditionally, which then moves you towards loving yourself unconditionally.

Remember, there is nothing broken, there is nothing that you have to fix; there is nothing that has to be undone. You are perfect right where you are. If you find yourself in someone else’s boat, simply relax, talk it down and get your boat flowing down stream as soon as possible.

Practice, practice, practice. And most importantly, HAVE FUN WITH THIS!!!!!!!

Also print this out and make copies for all your friends!  That way all of you can enjoy this!