A small wooden ship's wheel standing in a tray of green rippled water with a small wave curling by it.

Original artwork, not a still

Jon Kabat-Zinn

You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The sea provides a comparison between changing circumstances and learning how to respond to them. Stopping the waves is unavailable, but acquiring a skill is not. The image shifts attention from eliminating difficulty to developing a way of moving within conditions that continue.

Context reviewed

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