By Julianne Arce | The Daily Exhale
I came across a story recently that stopped me in my tracks.
It’s a simple tale, but it’s been sitting with me, through my thoughts during stillness, and whispering in the background as I guide others in class.
The story goes like this:
There was a monkey who lived in a tree by a river. One day, he looked down and saw a fish swimming. To the monkey, the fish seemed to be struggling, thrashing about in the current, submerged and breathless. Wanting to help, the monkey quickly climbed down, scooped the fish from the water, and carried it up into the tree. He placed it gently on a branch, away from the rushing water.
The fish gasped. Flapped.
And then, it was still.
The monkey was heartbroken. He had only meant to help.
That part struck me, the part where intention and impact don’t match. The monkey didn’t act out of malice. He truly believed he was saving the fish. But he was seeing the world through his own experience. Through his own breath. His own body. His own understanding of what it means to struggle, to survive, to be safe.
And isn’t that something we all do, sometimes?
We assume.
We project.
We step in with love, but not always with awareness.
I’ve caught myself in both roles before, the one trying to rescue, and the one being “rescued” from something I didn’t need saving from. I’ve offered solutions when what was needed was space. I’ve misread silence as suffering. I’ve confused someone else’s way of being with a call for help, just because it was unfamiliar to me.
And I’ve been the fish too.
Pulled from my element by someone who thought they were doing the right thing.
Struggling not because I was lost,
but because I was no longer in the water that held me.
This story has become a mirror.
It reminds me that compassion is not about inserting ourselves, it’s about attuning ourselves.
It’s about slowing down long enough to see the full picture…
to ask, What does this being need?
Not What would I need in this moment?
It’s made me rethink how I hold space, in class, in conversation, in love.
Am I witnessing, or am I assuming?
Am I offering support, or am I soothing my own discomfort with their discomfort?
These are not easy questions. But they are important ones.
Especially in a world where helping is often praised, but not always questioned.
So today, I’m holding this truth close:
What looks like struggle to us might be someone else’s sacred flow.
And sometimes, the kindest thing we can do is let others stay in their water
even when we don’t understand it.
Julianne
#TheDailyExhale #DharmaTalk #CompassionWithClarity #YogaWisdom #SeeingClearly #MindfulReflections #11ExhaleYoga
