There is a Taoist idea that a person should move the way water flows into a tide pool- yielding to the rocks and filling the space between. In other words, yield where there is resistance and grow where there is space.

I find myself isolated in my home office for a few weeks. There are few distractions, so it’s a good place for thinking.  I’m saving an hour of commuting out of my schedule, and I no longer have to change clothes like Mr. Rogers twice a day. That makes time for reading, writing, and keeping up with my classes.

Other things, like water cooler conversations and relationship building are more difficult. I miss my white board markers and the Starbucks in the lobby of my building.

The things that limit me are also the things that create the unique opportunities of the moment, like rocks damming water from flowing back with the receding wave. Without forced isolation I wouldn’t have the mental space to write this.

I have more interesting inputs. I have space to think and time to write about them. How do I move between my limitations to find and fill the vacant space within?