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for as long as i can remember, i’ve always been an advocate of 1) going with the flow and 2) staying balanced, or at least striving to be balanced. maybe it’s been a little too much jack johnson jamming or growing up near the sea, which i often refer to while writing quite a bit. i often forget that the moments i feel like i’m getting pulled under the currents and tides are in fact part of the flow of everything. i think it’s human nature to try stabilizing situations when times get rough. but by stabilizing things we defeat the point of the experience sometimes. stay with the uncertainty, dive into the unknown, it’s all about the struggle. in the act of balancing, we come alive. our sensations are thrown into a whirlpool, changing moment by moment; sometimes we feel secure and other times we feel precarious. in the long swim, we develop a tolerance for instability (and god knows that life is constantly up and down, high and low). as we come to accept this as a natural part of life, it becomes more familiar rather than frightening. Rather than fleeing from the obstacles and the oncoming waves, we grow to love the challenge, to roll and rough it out and seek standing tall on the other side. the sense of being off balance is exhilarating and reminds me of the impermanence and fragility of life and to embrace how good it is to be fully in the moment and alive.
so while i may have a bit too much of the ocean invested in my words and heart, i really believe, like surfers, that we can come to feel the power of the waves, the majesty of the elements, and a sense of our own place in this swirling universe.
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