Rip Currents Within Our Life

Yesterday I went out body boarding. Since I was a kid, minus one incident where I almost drown, I've almost always felt safe and calm, when I'm in the water. The conditions were pretty good, with head high waves, plus 1 to 3 feet on top of that and a breeze that cause the waves to be very clean… initially. As the day wore on and the tide change, naturally and like clock work the rip currents emerged. As they did, the lifeguards gathered people around their towers, instructing people of the potential danger and what to do, if they got caught in the rip current.

Despite the best effort of the lifeguards to explain and caution people, they went in many times to rescue people who got caught unaware of their circumstance.  They began to get pulled out to sea, by the ever changing currents, outside their conscious awareness and focus. With out the lifeguards watching, helping and rescuing, they would quite literally be dead, getting lost in the rip. In fact, there are reports today at the beach that one people appears to be lost, to yesterdays rip current.

Yesterday as I sat on my board, took waves and played in the water, getting caught in rip currents and moving out of them, i never felt in danger. But the truth is that I always was. Something could have gotten far out of my manageable circumstances, with negative results potentially ensuing.

As I sat on the cushion this morning, attentive to my posture, breathing and listening, what emerged is that rip currents don't just happen in the water. Rip currents happen in our life, all the time, every single day of our life. Depending on our response sometimes we get temporarily swept out to the deep waters of our  psychological and emotional sea, wondering if there is a lifeguard to save us or how we can possibly get out of the rip currents on our own. How do we swim through our everyday life rip currents, so that we do get lost or drown by the distractions or circumstances of our life?

The honest answer is that there is no one thing that moves us out of the rip currents. My first choice is always Zen… the practice of unification or put another way, some practice that is spiritual in nature that allows us to work and live with ourselves in a way that is helpful and self-befriending. Sometimes its with the support of a friend, pointing out that we are in a mess, when perhaps we don't realize that we are. Have supports in our life that promote, self-awareness, self-esteem and a way that we can life forward like self-help programs, books and even podcasts that are positive in nature.  And the last thing I will mention is a mind that is more focused on the solution than the problem. When we focus only on the problem, blocking out solutions is when we begin to panic and get lost in our psychological and emotional rip currents.

As we practice our life today, we can look, check and examine if we are caught in any rip currents that are dragging us off course or out and away from where we are hoping to be. If there is, we can then start looking for a way to swim or live parallel to it, until a spot opens where we can somehow move out of it. I would only remind us both that this is a process and not an event. It can take a little time and effort. It's not helpful for us to give up on ourselves. We can remember fortitude. The spiritual strength for the endurance of hardships. We can have the confidence that we can meet our challenges and difficulties well, with the support of others. And finally… If someone does get into the waters of your life, coming to help and perhaps bring you out of the rip… please don't fight that person… surrender and accept the help… sometimes our friends are true lifeguards.

May We Practice Our lIfe Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Comments

[Marguerite Manteau-Rao]

I just nominated you for Blogisattva Awards . . .

http://minddeep.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-top-4-mindfulness-practice-blogs.html

[Jaye Seiho Morris]

You are kinder than kind and I have deep respect for you.