We have so much to learn from the mindset of a surfer.
When a wave comes along that a surfer knows she can’t ride, what does she do?
She dives under the surface and allows it, and all it’s massive energy, to roll past.
Because she knows that if she takes that wave when she’s not ready the energy will take her down, and it could really hurt.
Sure, she’ll get tossed around, but she’s ready for that. She’ll rise back up to the surface and wait for the next wave, or the next. When everything is right she’ll paddle like mad to match her timing with the wave. She’ll gain her balance and rise up, using total focus on the energy and the water to guide her to ride as well and as long as she can, playing with resistance, speed and energy.
Can you imagine the joy? That feeling of being one with the ocean?
I can, and yet I’ve never surfed. Only with my heart, watching from the shoreline transfixed by the grace and beauty of the moment.
What if we each could look at life this way? Allowing the tsunami of a breakup, an argument, or a traumatic event to take on the symbolic meaning of the wave?
We could decide to dive under and let it pass by.
We would not be unaffected of course, but we could choose how to manage it, how to respond mindfully instead of letting it choose our path for us.
Which wave is worthy of taking on and riding and which is better to just let go?