The way I view the experiences of life reminds me a lot of swimming.
Swimming, for the most part, is very immersive. Most of the time, most of your body is submerged in the water with our heads resting just above the surface.
Traversing the course of our normal lives, the ebb and flow of our daily and weekly schedules, is much like treading water. Many of the activities sustain our basic survival needs and the slow arch of our progression in life forward.
For me, life is a lot more like a continuous front crawl. I am always reaching forward and pulling myself ahead. Much of the time my head just beneath the water, surfacing only to take a quick breath and continue charging forward. I have finally come to terms with the fact that this approach is completely unsustainable. I realize how much life I have missed out on and just how detrimental it has been with my head buried below the surface. To be more successful in life, I must put into place, on a much more frequent basis, different breaks along my way.
This last week, for the first time in a couple of years, my family and I took some time and vacationed. We spent our time in Monterey, California next to the ocean with some of my wife’s family. The weather was very comfortable for July. The smell of the ocean and kiss of the salty sea air almost washes your soul of the impurities accumulated on your shoulders from the daily grind of living.
I did not have any set expectations or goals or plans ahead of time for what it was we were to do while we were there. Yet, as the trip kicked off, I very quickly set the intention to log out of all phone and work activities and just be. The goal, presence. My spirit knew that it was time to get out of the water and take a break from swimming.
When you first emerge from the water you’ll realize that the thing you lived with for so long, being no longer present, is quite off putting. Very quickly you’ll notice a goofy little monkey wrench has been thrown into your psyche. Whether you are aware of it or not you’ll be searching for the thing that used to fill that void. Even if this was a negative thing, in a sick way, you’re grasping to find it and put it back where it belongs. The problem is, it really doesn’t belong. Our conscience knows the things that are bad for us, the things that are not serving us, and through the immersion of different experiences in life it is encouraging us to shed that cocoon of captivity.
As I sat with my thoughts inside this foreign state of existence, I began to see how pretty much all of us share the same exact problem in life, it just shows up in many different forms. We are all struggling to hold on to something. We are suffering from the fear of releasing it, whatever “it” is in relation to us personally. Why? Because it feels like dying, and that is completely antithetical to our nature as humans. If we are to not just survive in life but thrive we HAVE TO do as many of our greatest teachers have done before us. Like Jesus, we must bear our cross, and die to ourselves. We must give up that of our lower nature to receive that of our higher nature.
After a long and hot day of driving, I opened the back door to our home and dove back into the ocean of my life. Inside my home I sensed a stillness. More importantly, I sensed a comforting smile of approval from my God. My journey was complete and I had made a clear and conscious choice to do something different, to act in a new way, a way that was more in alignment with His will for my life. My reward was one of peace in my spirit and in my life. As I woke up the next morning, and I stretched forth my arms, I began pulling myself forward through the waters. I felt light and I felt free. I was completely renewed, refreshed and recharged, and my spirit was ready to swim once again.
My hope for you is to maintain the momentum Jared, keep with the work and the enlightened heart. Just keep swimming, seems that the tide is going in your direction