Sometimes your life feels like that rippling water… everything is going well. You feel light and full of ideas. But at other times? Then it feels like you are in the middle of a swirling stream. Everything around you seems to collapse… your relationship, your career, your family or maybe even your health. You don’t seem to have a grip on anything. Your Inner Archetypal River is calling…
Your River is the Mirror of your Life
Imagine that you are standing on the bank of a river. In front of you the water flows quietly, but further on you see a large boulder in the river and the water, which just rippled quietly, now flows around it swirling, because the current is stronger there. Just like your life…
The archetypal River is therefore also called the mirror of life. It is the archetype of movement and emotional depth. Your inner River helps you to recognize and acknowledge the ballast. And once you get to that point, you eventually find ways to let go of or heal that ballast.
Like any other archetype, the River takes you to new insights and yes, ultimately to calmer waters. This is not always easy, because just like ‘real’ rivers, this archetype also has an unpredictable power in it, which drags you along when his or her shadow side comes to the fore. Your inner River then takes over and you often show extreme emotions in your behaviour or you shoot in all directions.
How do you recognize your Archetypal River in your daily life?
If you stop for a moment and stand along ‘the bank of your own life’, you will immediately recognize your River. In my opinion, the River is with everyone in their archetypal boardroom.
You can recognize her in:
- Moments of Flow
When you’re completely immersed in a project, a conversation, or even the household… Window cleaning is a wonderful moment for me, in which I am in a flow. Almost meditative… - Emotional moments
When you cry about a scene in a movie, or when you are angry about certain injustices, or when you feel deep joy or intense sadness. - Moments of Change
When you start a new job, when you move, or when you try to let go of an old belief or habit. - Blockages in yourself
If you notice that you are stuck, that you are swimming “against the current”, or that you feel that you are drowning in your tasks.
In all these cases, your inner River is calling, “Hey, stop now! Look at what’s happening in your undercurrent.”
Recognizing Your own Inner River
You recognize your own inner River by ‘standing still’. Write down for yourself:
At what point in the past week did I feel like everything was flowing? These can sometimes be very small things. In fact, they are often things that you regularly do fully automatically. For me, for example, that is cooking in peace, when there is no pressure that the food has to be on the table on time. But also, for example, writing a blog. I love that!
And then, of course, the second question: When did you feel more like a dry bed or drowning in a swirling stream? When we are in the middle of it, we usually don’t give ourselves the time to think about it. While that is exactly what you should do.
The Shadow Side of the River
Sometimes it feels like your River is too much or too little:
- You are drowning in your to-do’s.
- You feel like you are flowing in all directions and have no idea where you are going.
- You feel dragged along by circumstances.
- Or you feel completely stagnant
That is the shadow side of your River. Je Rivier has taken over and holds the gavel in your management team. Or is dancing and jumping on the table for attention.
As soon as you realize this in yourself, the biggest step has already been taken. You are ready to face your own blockages
- Where did you lose the connection with the soil?
- What is your anchor?
- What are you trying to avoid by getting carried away? Is there fear or sadness in your undercurrent?
Do you recognize the shadow side of your River? Consciously find a moment of peace, a breather and consciously connect with your inner River.
Connect with your inner River
The River helps you to recognize and acknowledge what is blocking you in your life. Only then can you actually let go, so that it starts flowing again. But how do you do that?
Accept the flow whichever way he or she goes
Especially in the Western world we have learned that we can control …. That is not the case. There is a big difference between ‘drowning’ and passively letting yourself be dragged along and accepting that things are not going well. For example, instead of fighting it or wallowing in victimhood, you can also ask yourself this question:
“What is life trying to teach me here?”
Make room for emotions
Showing emotions is not done in the Western world . ‘Act normal’, or ‘Hold back’, you are soon told, or even worse ‘Shut up’. Emotions should be hidden away. But then the same thing happens as when you press a ball in the water… As soon as you let go of it, it shoots out of the water like a volcano. Suppressed emotions resurface at some point, but in an extreme form.
Your inner River carries all your emotions with it. Think about it. Give them space. Pick a fixed moment a day, a week, or a month, it doesn’t matter, and reflect on the emotions you have felt. Ask yourself
“What exactly am I feeling? At what times?
Write, draw, or talk about it with someone dear to you. Yes, even those “uncomfortable” feelings!
We are often inclined to ask ourselves the questions immediately: What do my emotions want to tell me? Or, where exactly do they come from?” But giving space to your emotions means just letting them be. They do not always have to be immediately understood, solved or taken away. If you are going through a divorce, are fired, or someone has just died, that’s just ‘@#$%’. Sense that feeling, connect to it. For how long? That’s up to you. You really feel the difference between making time and space for your emotions and letting yourself be completely swallowed up by them. Listen to your own body at such a moment.
Find the stepping stones
If you compare a challenge in your life – something that you find difficult to do, or that you may even dread – with a river that you have to cross, look for the fords. What are the small, safe steps you can take?
These stepping stones in your River help you to reach that ‘enormous challenge you were dreading so much’ step by step. Just by determining for yourself: Where is the current strongest? And where do I feel more confident to take a step in the right direction and breathe easy?
Suppose you feel overwhelmed by your work. If you keep saying to yourself: “I won’t make it. I’m so busy. Or It’s so heavy”, then you only make it more difficult for yourself. You then let yourself be carried away by your River. Instead: Stand still. Grab a piece of paper and do the Stepping Stones exercise.
Do you want to dive deeper into your archetypal River? In the Fantastic Friday session this month, we will work on this together.
Let yourself be carried away by the flow!
To be Continued…
Frédérique te Dorsthorst – de Muij
May 2026
