Life as Waves and I am the "How"

Hawaii waves as painted by Ma’ata Tukuafu

Life comes towards me like waves in the ocean.  Sometimes it passes right thru me and is gone.  Sometimes it causes ripples of thoughts or feelings inside of me that linger after the event has hit the shore behind me.

I have noticed that the more I can avoid clinging to any part of any wave, the more at peace I find myself.  It is the practice of non-attachment.  Simple yet elusive as I am conditioned to have a reaction to certain waves.  I also experience some grief, though minor, when something is over.  So this part of me wants to hang on a little to the memory of the wave.

The thing is, life is the waves.  And I am mere water.  No moment lasts longer than itself.  And I have choice as to whether I create a story inside myself about any particular wave.

If I can let go of the last wave, I can be completely present to the next one and the next one after that.  This is where life is.  And this is where I experience the most freedom, authenticity and solidity.

For those of you who have stood in the water of an ocean with high waves, you know that turning to look back at a past wave leaves you unsteady when the next one approaches.  Like they say “do not turn your back on the ocean.”  I did that a few months ago and the ocean flipped me.  I was lucky I didn’t land on my neck.  When I stood up from the somersault dazed and shakily laughing, unfortunately I stood with my back to the ocean again.  I was consumed with thoughts of the flip I had just taken.

Then, the ocean flipped me again.

This time though, I stood up and immediately turned to face the ocean.  As the next large wave approached, I dived in and under it.  I came up safely on the other side.  Facing the ocean, I slowly backed out of the water.

A perfect metaphor for life and non-attachment.  When I am too focused on the past stumble, I do not have all of me available to greet the present wave.

There are days when the ocean is calm and softly rolling.  There are days when the surf is rough and aggressive.  Just like life.

The reason I get up each morning and do my morning practices to center, ground, and connect to myself are so that my footing is solid that day.  That wave that rolled through my life and knocked me over is gone. But the memory of how I turned, stood my ground and dove into the third one will always be with me.

I am how I face life.

I am the “how.”