Running water never grows stale. You have to keep on flowing...Bruce Lee (Martial Arts legend)

We are here during the rainy season to see water, but there is neither rain nor water. Instead, dust and grime cake the windows and seep through into our eyes and clothes. It's been over five hours and the rickety bus trundles and lurches through hairpin turns as it seems to climb almost vertically along the perilous Ethiopian mountain paths. Our grit-filled eyes peer through the windows for any sign of what we came for and yet there is nothing but more dirt and steep drop-offs. We have taken the risk, but where's the reward?

Suddenly, everything changes. Coming closer, yet still in the distance, is a huge white mushroom cloud that seems to appear from nowhere and grows larger as we approach. Our eyes don't burn as much; the grime doesn't seem to matter now as we are transfixed by this massive white haze. This is it!Blue Nile Falls. Smoking water. Tississat.

Over half a mile wide, it falls in a violent sheet that is barely visible under the thick shroud of haze. We move closer to it, straining to see the falls through the thick, steaming shroud. We live our lives in and of water, yet are amazed constantly by its majesty.

The source of the Blue Nile Falls is gentle, meandering Lake Tanat that flows through Ethiopia and The Sudan. We imagine it rolling softly and quietly for miles until-- in less than a minute-- it transforms into a raging cascade that churns wrenches and tumbles down the steep rocky crags. Then, just as quickly as it began this wild transformation, it again becomes quiet and meandering, flowing to its next destination.

Traders can learn a lot from Tississat and Tana. There are always going to be unexpected situations that threaten to send us tumbling headlong over the falls and into the abyss. This is the nature of uncertainty. Lake Tana survives by adapting to the ever-changing rhythms of nature-- the conditions in which it found itself. Traders survive by being adaptable, prepared for anything and going with the flow. As easy as this sounds, it is often not. Too many preconceived ideas about what the markets should or will do disturb the centering of mind needed to adapt. To approach the markets with an open mind, to be able to change course quickly and not be stuck in ego are hallmarks of successful traders. So many fail because they find themselves in the midst of a sudden state of disruption where they are not prepared to be carried downward with the raging waters.

Traders must stay with the flow of the markets, knowing that they can and will change character from day to day or moment to moment. Within complex adaptive systems such as nature or the markets, there are always going to be ups and downs, quiet times and violent movements. It is the task of the trader to stay steady, detached and adapt to the flow.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change...Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin

Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.