I grew up in the small town of Kailua, on the windward side of Oahu. I’ve been swimming in the ocean since an early age, and while I have a healthy respect for its power, I don’t usually fear it–even when a big wave comes.
I think it was my step-father who taught me that when a wave comes, the best thing to do is dive as deeply as you can and let it pass over you. I remember being a afraid–who wants to jump straight into something with such potential to wreck you? But, since the alternative was to continue getting tossed about as I had been–sometimes getting rolled end over end until I had no breath left–I gave it a try. After that first time, when I dove deep and felt the force of the wave pass powerfully, yet gently over me, I was a believer. I shot up to the surface exuberant. I began to seek out waves to jump under.
The same is true of life.
When a life wave comes crashing, it seems like all the power is on the surface–with our egos, our circumstances, the people who have done us wrong. But the real power is at the base of the wave–our beliefs, our knowing, our ability to transform.
Ultimately, we get to choose how we will meet each wave. We can stay on the surface–firing off that harshly worded email, feeling sorry for ourselves, playing the blame game. But those are likely to send us crashing to the ocean floor, with water up our noses and sand in our bikini bottoms.
Or we can dive deep–into our soul, our intuition, our willingness to change and be changed. And from that place of power, we are healed, transformed, and ultimately shot out the other side.
I’ve had a few waves recently, and although I’ve let myself get rolled a few times, and I’ve yet to pop out the other side, I find myself at the base of the wave, still breathing.
image via Micah Camara