Buckets of Water or an Aqueduct?

Growth is painful — and that is not a motivational saying, it is the plain truth. If it is not hurting, it is not growing. Simple as that. As we grow — all of us without exception — we bump into resistance that sometimes makes us want to retreat.

It can feel as though there are no more conditions or capacities for growth, whether internal or external. In those moments, we cannot treat our circumstances as truth — only as reality.

Just imagine if a seed took its reality for absolute truth. It would never become a lush, fruit-bearing tree, because it would feel incapable of growing or changing.

The secret lies in how we respond to the growth process — complaining about the pain or rejoicing in the transformation — and in how we choose to participate in it: carrying buckets of water or building an aqueduct.

The parable of the Aqueduct teaches us that in life and in work, we sometimes put in foolish, purposeless effort that leads us nowhere — never building something fluid, lasting, and replicable.

Instead of thinking strategically about how we will connect point A to point B through an aqueduct, we exhaust ourselves carrying buckets of water throughout the entire process.

We need to expand our vision and question our methods and strategies in light of this paradigm.

Do you want to build aqueducts or carry buckets of water?