Fourth Form of Madness

So as I walked along the beach today, it struck me how changed the foreshore was. Literally overnight the water had washed away a great deal of the bank I usually walk along. And I thought to myself “Wow that it is rapid change really made physical and tangible”. What was left of the foreshore was lit in a beautiful golden light so I took myself on a little stroll letting the gorgeous golden light dance over my body and delighted in the warmth of the sun. Imagine if I had got to the beach, noticed the changed foreshore and said “I can’t possibly walk on the beach today, it isn’t how I left it yesterday!” 🙂

It wasn’t long until I found a beautiful spot for meditation, close to the waves and with an uninterrupted view of the horizon. After a few minutes of breath exploration, I gradually went to slide into meditation. I usually close my eyes but today my eyes didn’t want to close, they wanted to remain open with a soft gaze on the unchanging and heartbreakingly beautiful horizon. As I softly gazed at this point of reference, it deeply occurred to me that whilst I was looking at the whole ocean in front of me, I could actively select to focus on the unchanging, still horizon or the forever changing churn of the waves closer to me. Both have their value. But I couldn’t help but notice as I gazed softly and a little lovingly at the horizon everything else continued to move around me but I felt undenied stillness and peace.

I think we have that choice everyday as we go about our life. We can chose to focus on the ever changing nature of the events of life, or the beautiful constant flow of life that remains unchanged by events. Which will you chose today? Choice is yours.

So I recently started a love affair with the ocean. I have lived 400m from the sea for the last 15 years but never went down there. Then last year in late November, I just started to get the urge to go to the ocean. I’ve always been one to follow these urges so I began at first walking to the lookout that sits back from the ocean and just watching the waves and the sky and smelling the salty air. Then I started getting up earlier to go to walk along the beach, then I started walking with my feet in the water and gradually this progressed to meditating on the beach. It’s fair to say it is a big part of my wellness maintenance plan now and also a big part of my continued learning. The beach has a lot to teach us about living.

Lesson for today, learn to love the ride! As I got to the beach today, there were monster waves smashing their way into the shore (well they looked like monsters to me :-)). The sea was wild and wooly and the tide was so high there wasn’t much beach to walk on. A handful of courageous surfers were out there facing their fears. I love to watch the waves but usually don’t seem to notice the surfers, but today I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off what the surfers were doing. I watched them get smashed time and time again in turbulent dump of a wave, surface in the wash and then find their board and paddle tirelessly back out again. Time and time again.

I was exhausted just watching them but I had a crazy grin on my face. The kind of grin you can’t help when you are watching something that touches your heart deeply. My grin spread as I realised I was watching one of the best trainings for resilience. Time and time again the surfer paddles out on their board into the turbulent and indifferent ebb and flow of the powerfully unforgiving ocean. Time and time again after a whole lot of effort, if the time is right or maybe by pure chance, they may get to experience a brief exhilarating ride that has no guarantee how it will end but will make them feel so free and alive that consequences cease to matter. All that effort for a short sweet unpredictable ride.

And I thought to myself, wow that is kind of like life 🙂 Life is effort and there are no guarantees how that effort will turn out. But what if you turned your appreciation of life around so of instead of loving the result, you loved the effort involved? What if you just plain old forgot about the end result and just loved and enjoyed the lessons and effort on the way. What if you just learned to love the ride come what may? The sheer exhilarating unpredictable ride with a smile on your face and the warmth of freedom in your heart.