A wave of thought

At the mid-point of the year, came a few thoughts about how life comes in waves. In this instance, sets.

I live on the coast so was fortunate to be in the ocean over the 4th weekend. As I watched my son surf it got me thinking.

The first thing is this… get in the water. If you can do that then you’ve won (no matter how deep you go).

Next, you “get to” choose to go out further or stand on the shore in ankle deep water (in some respect, no wrong answer if the waves are lapping up on your feet).

I choose Go.

Now, you really have to get out past the breakers, or you just get slammed each time a wave breaks. Jump over, swim under, duck dive through, or push and plow your feet…whatever you choose you just need to decide that you’ll get through it. This is where your determination starts to set its pace. This is also where I got to thinking…

As life sometimes can, ocean waves come in sets. You wait for one, decide it’s not for you, and look for the next one to catch. You see another one approach, you think “this one is mine,” whether anticipation, cause it’s the first one you think is THE one, or it’s just the ‘feeling’ that you’re due. You turn and paddle with it, it crests, breaks, and…. You miss it.

Did you not paddle or kick hard enough? Was the wave moving too fast? Did I just miss it because…? Oh well, turning back out to try again. After a few repetitions and maybe even a few more failed attempts - this moment, the one that you question - should you keep on, stop, head in, take a break, or push through until you accomplish why you got out in the water in the first place…ugh…

That moment, a few seconds ago, is already past. It's history. But it's the crux of the decision that follows.

What did you decide? Did you make your way in, choosing to blame something bigger than you – the waves, the wind, the water, too many crashes, fatigue, timing, age, effort, and slowly, more things that have gone from bigger than you can control down to too many things more intimate and personal to face and think about safely… (this patten, I think is easiest, blame big. But, once you start to really look at the root cause you see that you have more control and ownership of your situation but it’s just too uncomfortable to admit it. That can become a habit. Once it gets ‘too’ personal it’s easy to hit eject).

Fight or flight. Hmm…

…Let’s choose to stay out, push through, be still, patient, present, and just wait for your wave – even if it’s just one single wave that you know will come because you’ve made the decision with yourself to not give in and give up. Your eyes scale up, peer over the rolling waves coming your way, you look inward, you feel outward, close your eyes, take a breath (wow, that felt good, so you take another one, deeper this time), you open your eyes… feel the water, hear the waves fall in sync with your breathing. Become One. You look out and see what’s to come – right at that moment you sense “this is The Why in that moment.” YOU decided how to seize control for this moment to own your own time…

What happens next is up to you. It’s your story, your event, the pattern-correct and paradigm YOU Have Chosen. Only you know where it goes.

What happen? How was it? How did it go?

One thing I do know, it’s pretty great huh.?. Bet it made you smile (if it didn't right away don't worry ones coming in a sec :)

So from here... Go into this next half of the year, not blaming the timing of the waves, and the endless “have toos” of your days that are so easy to pile up and clog your pipes and block your vision. Look to the decision you made toward the “about toos,” “get toos,” and “here goes…” Cause no matter what, here it goes…

See you out there.

Photo credit @Warren Keelan https://www.dhirubhai.net/pub/dir/warren/keelan