The Lotus and the Swamp

This is a visual metaphor/worksheet based on the ancient Hindu and Buddhist metaphor of the lotus flower.

I think it is fairly self-explanatory.  I find it particularly useful for highlighting the fact that our painful thoughts/feeling are inextricably linked with our values and goals, and our pain must therefore be embraced if we are to create a rich, full and meangful life.  The swamp mud provides the nutrients and fertiliser from which the lotus arises.  In the same way, you can't have love without pain, courage without fear, creativity without some contact with "the dark side", and so on. 

You can't have the beautiful, pristine, magnificent lotus flower if you don't have the dark, murky, filthy mud of the swamp underneath!!!

Submitted by Dr Kingsley Mudd MBBS FRACGP, Family Physician, Townsville, Qld, Australia