Into the Ocean

Mar 13, 2008 - 23:18 PM PST

I love the ocean. There's something inescapably fierce, and yet at the same time, beautifully peaceful, in the waves that come rushing up against the sand and then retreating into a foamy bliss... it always sets my mind at ease. The eerie silence that surrounds you at the moment of submersion on a dive, interrupted only by the sound of the regulator allowing you to breathe in an underwater world, is a mind-blowing reminder of how disconnected we manage to become from the water - this substance and force that exists all around us, and even within us - and then how quickly we can choose to become one again.

My first surfing experience in Costa Rica is forever etched in my memory. After battling against the waves that continuously knocked me off the board with no remorse, no concern for how badly I wanted to dominate them... I allowed myself to simply relax, and the desire the dominate the wave was replaced with a desire to just experience it... standing on a board, lying on a board, or even crashing in to the sand. Only then was I able to truly feel the wave, to stand strong o the board and ride the white water all the way up to the beach.

That moment has become a metaphor for my life, and how important it is to live in the now, without a hidden agenda or a need to fight that which should simply be enjoyed. No worries about how I think a situation should turn out, or what others around me will think if I somehow fail and tumble away from my goal with a splash and a scream. Only what I feel in my heart, and the feeling of being surrounded by everything that ever has been, is now, or ever will be. That's what's most important in life... everything else will follow.