Water, life-nourishing.

The highest motive in life is to be like water. It fights nothing or no one. It flows from and back to its source and in the flowing smooths and wears away all resistance.
- Taoist Proverb

The best are like water
bringing help to all
without competing
choosing what others avoid
hence approaching the Tao
dwelling with earth
thinking with depth
helping with kindness
speaking with honesty
governing with peace
working with skill
and moving with time
and because they don't compete
they aren't maligned.
- Red Pine translation, Lao-tzu's Taoteching

. . .

A journal note on water and the Tao

A search for the peace and equanimity
To be like water
Yielding
Life-nourishing
Acting with kindness
To be a benevolent entity
And be of use.
- Heron Dance journal note

These voices span fifteen centuries, yet they circle the same question: what does it mean to move through the world as water moves — not by force, but by finding the way that is already there?