In many cases, much of the stress, fear and distress that we experience on a daily basis is mainly due to the fear of change.

One day we realize that we must accept more and more responsibility, we notice how old friendships are leaving and we even feel insecurity when we notice how our own body is evolving. Both the fear of losing our identity and habits over time and the uncertainty that comes from not being sure what will happen in the future can make our lives bitter.

However, there are certain ways of understanding existence that protect us more from this kind of evil. The slogan “be water, my friend” uttered by the legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee in his latest interview is just one example of how some philosophies completely embrace the idea that everything changes, constantly, and that this is good and natural .

A philosophy of life marked by the acceptance of change

If there is one thing that has characterized Asian cultures such as the Chinese or Japanese, it is the acceptance of change. While in the West a way of understanding things has dominated that fed the need for human beings to dominate nature and modify it at will, in a large part of the territory of the East, until not so long ago, things were seen in a very different way: renounce the pretense of taming the environment and merge with it, evolving just as the planet does.

This idea was hinted at in a very interesting interview with Bruce Lee recorded in black and white , which became popular in 2007 when one of its fragments was rescued by a BMW TV spot from the SCPF advertising agency.

In fact, the phrase that is most remembered is precisely that one in which it is expressed, through a beautiful metaphor, the good thing of ceasing to fear change and becoming ourselves instead: “Be water, my friend” .

Be water, my friend: what does it mean?

This inspiring phrase is not just a facade, behind it there is a way of understanding the things that have thousands of years of tradition behind them. It is a philosophical principle called Wu Wei , which literally means “No Action” and belongs to a current of thought originating in ancient China called Taoism.

The idea of non-action, as we shall see, is radically opposed to the way in which people in Western countries approach things, since it is based on the idea that acceptance and humility is the best way to live and to adapt to the constant change that characterises our world.

The keys to adapting to change

The fundamental idea that governs philosophies such as Taoism, one of the most influential in Chinese culture, is that everything flows and that we should not try to shield ourselves and remain static . This is a very useful perspective when it comes to experiencing the passage of time and experiences, with all that this implies, and it can be summarized in 8 laws:

1. Change is natural

That which always remains the same only exists in our imagination, it is not something real that defines the world in which we live. Even the oldest trees end up drying up and giving way to new forms of life and new landscapes.

2. Reality always comes before our beliefs

There is no objective way to interpret what surrounds us, since change always comes before our ideas and conclusions. This fact makes Chinese philosophy nourish an intellectual position based on humility .

3. Destruction is also creation

Everything flows, and that means that even in the most disastrous events there are seeds of opportunity . Taoism expressed a similar idea through a very famous concept: Yin and Yang.

4. Our change is the change of the world

We are not beings separated from the rest of the world; and all the processes that take place around us make us evolve in one or another sense .

5. Don’t think about essences

The idea that everything and everyone has an essence is counterproductive, because it only leads us to create rigid labels and concepts that do not explain a changing reality immune to the intellectual prisons that these rigid categories imply .

This maxim is especially important in recent times, characterized by the rapid evolution of life forms due to technological advances and globalization. In the era when the Internet and 3D printing are changing everything within a few years of their creation, it is absurd to pretend that everything is the same, as if that were to be expected.

6. Lives in the present

Wanting to build one’s life from memories and fixed ideas about identity only generates frustration, because, as we have seen, what is natural is fluidity, change. Reality never responds to the pressures of very limited concepts ; whoever was shy and discreet yesterday, today could be denying himself tomorrow by believing blindly in that identity that has expired.

7. Don’t worry about the shapes of who you are, they are already shaped by nature

Acting with spontaneity and simplicity is one of the maxims of Taoism, a philosophy in which it is considered that things work better when we try to control less our environment and the way we project ourselves in it . As Bruce Lee says, water is characterized by its lack of form; it simply adapts to that of its container.