mixed up monday: making waves
“Water reflects everything it encounters. This is so commonplace that we think water is blue, when, in fact, it has no color. Amazingly, white soft and flowing, water — as ocean or lake or even as the smallest puddle of rain — takes on the image of the entire world without ever losing its essential clearness.”
When I read that passage in Mark Nepo’s THE BOOK OF AWAKENING, it was like I finally remembered to look at the strand of string I’d wrapped around my finger so I wouldn’t forget something really important, something that had a tendency to get shuffled to the back burner in the chaos of daily life.
That something is my belief that our true selves are present and protected even when we’re feeling more like a murky pond or a leaf-filled puddle. Our essential clarity exists whether or not we consciously nurture –or even acknowledge– it.
Lately, the need to summon up and tap into my own essential clearness has been amplified to epic proportions. I know that changing the direction of my career, and in turn my entire life, wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was an inevitable. I also know that the shift from fostering marketing mojo to pursuing an unchartered course toward more creative pursuits has made me feel adrift. Everything has changed, from the landscape of my days to my concept of hard hours vs. head space to cash flow.
So when it came time to finish this round of novel edits, I decided to actively summon my sense of essential clarity . . . you know, give it a shout out so hopefully it would rise to the surface and envelope me with much-needed support in this important {and terrifying} stretch of my journey.
That’s how I ended up here — at the ocean. Even though I’m lucky enough to live in a seaside village, there’s something about the expanse and purpose of the ocean that feels like home. Being close to ocean surf gives me an inimitable experience — a simultaneous surge of adrenalin and soothing dose of relaxation. The ocean is where I come to get clear.
Is there something that does — or could — make you more aware of your essential clearness? Tune in. Tap in. It’s all good.
This week’s Spotify playlist was sparked by a Counting Crows lyric, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the ocean, I guess I should.” Click on the photo of the ocean to give it a listen.
mixed up monday: making waves
Counting Crows – A Long December
Cat Power – Sea of Love
Coldplay – Swallowed In The Sea
Scott Simontacchi – Lost At Sea
Jack Johnson – To The Sea
Jack Johnson – High Tide Or Low Tide
Modest Mouse – March Into The Sea
Never Shout Never – Lost At Sea
Iron And Wine – House By The Sea
Matt Nathanson – Bottom of the Sea
Weezer – Across The Sea
Led Zeppelin – The Ocean
Mumford & Sons – Feel The Tide