How is your mind related to water?

Image for illustration purpose

Water, or H2O, is a fascinating thing on this planet. Almost 71 % of this planet is water, and one can debate the remaining 29% solid (non-watery stuff) is mainly linked to water. Nearly all living beings need water for their survival, primarily for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing, transportation, industrial purposes and many more. However, there is one unique characteristic of water that many of us might not have noticed (at least I didn’t for a long time)

Water can provide soothing benefits to your mind and even teach you a lesson or two.

Many studies are linked to drinking water and improving memory, brain health etc., that indirectly impacts your mind. But, recent studies have indicated that water can provide therapeutic benefits to your emotional well-being and mental health. European Union even chartered a project known as “Blue Health” to probe further into it.

Some studies have shown that the presence of a nearby water body calms you down. You might have experienced the same when you are near rivers, oceans and even a water pool. There is even an argument that the blue state (or water) is an antidote to the red state (or anxiety). The reasons behind this could be many. It could be ranging from a few hypotheses around the legacy of it all (after all, the legend says that we humans evolved from a fish) to even the deep biological connection from our birth roots. Whatever it may be, the data shows that there is merit in probing this topic further.

However, beyond all the healing and life-giving benefits of water, there are many things you can learn from the state of it. Therefore, if you ask my submission to it, I would like to point out how water is related to your mind through these particular observations.

1. Water is like your mind. When it is not flowing very fast and is steady-state with lower speed, it appears calm and soothing. When it flows very fast, is turbulent, and overflowing, it seems disturbing or even dangerous. Likewise, if your mind is clear, you feel good, and well, you get it.
2. If you throw a stone in still water, it creates ripples around the surface and made multiple waves beyond the initial central wave. In a still mind, if you throw a distraction, it leads to a chain of thoughts beyond that original distraction all linked together.
3. Water tends to adjust to its boundary conditions and boundaries. You put water in a cup, it adapts to the same shape, and if you put it in a vast land, it forms a lake. Likewise, our mind always tends to adjust to its surroundings and respond accordingly. In a restricted atmosphere, our mind is bound by restricted thoughts. We feel a bit more stretched out in an open environment, and our mind expands like a lake.
4. In a vast ocean of water, ships can sail, aquatic life can live, and the entire world can prosper. Similarly, in an extended open mind without boundaries, endless possibilities can emerge from the creation of enterprises, growth centres for humanity, solutions to the world’s problem and a vessel for happiness.
5. If provided enough heat to water, it can boil and emerge as a gaseous substance known as steam and scatter throughout the atmosphere or room (if not appropriately contained). If controlled properly, the same steam can power a steam engine and make a locomotive move or run with ferocious speed. Similarly, if you are stressing enough or heated (agitated), your mind can scatter all around, and you may lose the original shape of the thought inside your mind. Or you may call that you have been reacting a bit vapoury. However, if you put a focussed, contained effort in your mind, you can churn out some brilliant thoughts and ideas that can help you feel some of your initiative.
6. If provided enough cooling to the water, it can become ice and solidifies. Or in scientific terms, if you take out energy from the water, it cools down and changes its state to a solid form. The stable condition can be good or bad, depending on the outcome you need. For example, if you wanted ice for cooling down something, the purpose is solved. However, if you see ice formed on surfaces where it shouldn’t have, it would hinder the processes linked to it. (e.g. ice formation in industries transporting cold water). Similarly, if you don’t apply your mind to anything and let it cool down for long, it can become solidified and rather bricked (as they say in the tech world). Being bricked isn’t an exciting thing for a human being. That could also mean you are fixated on few things and very reluctant to adapt. In another analogy, if you don’t heat your mind a lot and stay in a particular state for a long time (or so to call solidify your mind), you become a stable source of motivation for many people.

This and many more. The topic is fascinating. However, whatever it may be, there is something to the entire mystery of the play of water on your mind, and it’s worth probing further.