I was asked to think about "being like water" in my reaction to situations or circumstances in my life. I decided that water is powerful but not necessarily strong.
I am often told how strong I am, or told to "keep being strong", and I think there is a difference between being strong and being powerful. People are often said to be strong; Rosie the Riveter is an example of strength. I relate people to being "strong", however I can think of water or other things in nature as being powerful and yet not necessarily strong. So, something can be powerful like water and air, movable and soft, yet powerful.
Water can turn stone into sand and a river carved out the Grand Canyon. Tree roots can turn mountains into gravel over time. The ocean is powerful, yet you can touch the soft water. Things that are powerful, exert power, while things that are strong hold fast and don't "move". Being strong, to me, means an unmovable object that is standing up against the circumstances of life coming at me like an unstoppable force. Cancer, health problems, family dramas, and death, to name a few. The goal is to be flexible, capable of being flexed, bent, bowed, twisted, or moved without breaking; to be pliable; not stiff or brittle.
Don't try to be the unmovable object, be the water!!
