You’re Not Lost, You’re Moving

(mouse button clicks) (ethereal music) Headspace Studios. Hi, it's Dora here. Welcome to "Radio Headspace." A couple months ago at dinner, my friend was telling me about her first time going to a waterpark. You know, the kind with water slides, named things like Poseidon's Revenge or Devil's Free Fall. My friend was an anxious kid, so her family agreed that they could work their way up to those doom slides and start with something calmer, the lazy river. The lazy river is a slow-moving water ride powered by hidden jets that create a steady current to mimic a real river. My friend said she remembered giving the lifeguard a respectful nod to acknowledge that she was a fellow rule follower. Then she got into her tube exactly as instructed, holding on to both handles as the current sent her on her way. To her horror, when she looked back, she saw her family was not following the rules. Her dad had flopped onto his tube belly first, her mom was floating backward, and her brother had abandoned his tube entirely, disrupting the delicate balance of proper float speed. She was drifting further and further away. The lazy river was not the correct name for this attraction. My friend frantically tried paddling against the current, but the more she fought, the worse it got. She spun in circles, got wedged between strangers, and was slowly absorbed into another family's vacation. Then she heard her mom yell far more calmly than she would've liked, "You're good, just pull into the next exit. We'll meet you there." She hadn't even noticed the exits. But sure enough, she paddled over, grabbed the handrail, and a few minutes later, her family floated in like nothing had ever happened. And I've been thinking about that story lately, partially because it's hilarious and partially because for a few frantic minutes, my friend was so sure she was lost, but the truth was, she was never lost. She was just moving with the current. And that's something we can all struggle with, right? We resist uncertainty. We panic when we don't know what's next. The mind loves clarity, closure, and certainty. But in Buddhism, there's a teaching called saddha. Faith or trust doesn't mean to be naive. It means trusting the process even when you don't have all the answers yet. This moment reminds me of a Buddhist story about a traveler who came to a wide, rushing river with no bridge and no boat. The current was strong, the water's deep, and crossing seemed impossible. He could have stood there, stuck, waiting for something to change. But instead, he gathered branches and reeds and carefully built a small raft. When it was ready, he set it on the water, stepped onto it, and let the current carry him. It wasn't instant, it wasn't effortless. He had to balance, adjust, trust, but the river supported him. And eventually, without forcing or fighting, he reached the other shore....