In my Coast Salish culture, water is seen as healing, and rivers are viewed as a place to do said healing. Our traditional baths wash off the negative energy and pain we do not need. Rivers have also long been used as metaphors for the human experience, and few comparisons are as fitting as those between rivers and the close relationships we maintain during our life time. At their source, rivers begin as small streams or springs, fragile and unassuming, yet full of potential. Very similar to the way our connection starts with another person. They start quietly, with tentative gestures and the spark of possibility. They  establish safety and trust before evolving further. As a river gains speed and strength, it grows and carves out a wider path while gaining depth. And in those depths is a growing ecosystem that feels safe and sheltered. Our relationships are much in the same. Our love, care, and attachment for each other only increases the depth and investment of our relationship. 

However, rivers also deserve an immense amount of respect. While they gift us with healing,  food, and beauty, they can also take things away with their mighty current. They can sweep us up and pull us under in an instant. And yet, we still desire the gifts the river has to offer. Although we know the power the river has and the risks we must take to connect with it, we still choose to be one with it.

Rivers display innate resilience as they find ways to flow around or through obstructions, just as we  do in our relationships. We adapt, we learn, we grow, we compromise, and sometimes we are forced to rediscover our rhythm. All of these acts of perseverance create a longer, wider, and deeper river in which our love can flow.