Why does looking at the ocean (or any large body of water) make us feel so peaceful and quiet inside? In fact, I already feel softer, more expanded at the mere thought of it… Maybe because, as our awareness widens towards the horizon, it begins to resonate with our internal stillness? Or perhaps because we are just like the ocean, fluid bodies constantly expressing tidal movements. When you connect to the ocean, you have an opportunity to reset, shift back to harmony and a new potential. You can let go.
I spend a few weeks each year at the ocean and every time I return with a new perspective. It usually feels like expansion, merging with the surroundings through a sense of ease. It is always a resourcing experience. Sometimes, while gazing at the line where the water meets the sky, I feel like I am containing the waves and the space above. A fear of losing identity sneaks in occasionally and I wonder who is really afraid: the expanded me or the narrowly defined one? So, here I am observing the never ending waves of consciousness, the expansion and the contraction. Perhaps I can surrender more and stay with the expansion a bit longer each time?
Isn’t breathing the most profound act of surrender? Every few seconds we welcome the air inside our bodies and allow it to become a part of us. There is nothing to fear, after all…
Photo: Taken by me. My favorite gazing spot in Oahu, Hawaii.