We can sometimes feel we are swept along by life, andespecially by difficult circumstances over which we have no control. As in the Buddhist image, we can feel like a man in a boat on a rushing river that is swept along by the current helplessly. He tries to catch hold of branches to stop, but each time the current is too strong, and he cannot stop. We need tolearn how to get off the boat, to choose a different way, to examine carefully what we are living for, and what is meaningful for us, to choose a life of wisdom, caring, and wellbeing, for ourselves and others. Sometimes this will be a quiet pool rather than the rushing river, but in any case, we need to committo looking deeply at what brings the beauty and of an awakened life to ourselves and all around us.