TIDES

As much of a lover of nature that I am....mother nature and human nature....my heart and full spirit are always with the ocean.

For whatever reason, even after it's peak season this year, it's been calling me.  Beach umbrella's, sunblock, scorching warmth, flesh, crowds.....it's all gone.  Its not it's season.  Fall beckons the real lovers...the surfers and the seagulls in truth have never left.  What you see more of are the fishermen, daydreamers, and others just like myself who are called there.

Admittedly I've been a fair weather admirer.  I haven't always visited the ocean past its peak season. A few times in the fall, but it was half-hearted.  This Fall is the first time I really carved out the space to see it's qualities beyond whats most desirable.  Also admittedly, I had expectations of this incredible force of nature.

I mean...it's Fall, right?  I expected more sand dunes in prep for fall/winter storms, intense tides, cold winds, ,less people, more surf.  In fact, I expected the ocean to be fierce!  To be tumbling and churning creating all that "change" that comes with the shift in season!

The first time off-season I stepped into the sand....I saw the extra sand dunes, I saw less people, and I also saw serenity.  Not just a quality in the people who were there enjoying and respecting the oceans true nature, but the ocean itself was completely serene.  Just being what it was.  No fierceness visible. Some surfers were talking about a serious under-tow preventing them from standing on their boards, but the surfers respected it.  Didn't mess with it.  And everyone was safe.

The colors were different.  The sky was less blue and more grey.  Depending on which visit maybe the wind picked up a little, maybe the sun was pleasantly available, or maybe the clouds rolled in. The sand is always cool. But the serenity and pure truth of this Fall ocean has never changed.  It simply is what it is, regardless of my initial expectations.  Or anyone's expectations.

When I breathe in this concept, what I breathe out is judgement.  Putting labels or stress or identification on what things "should" be.  The tides of the ocean (read:life) don't need to be dramatic.
Shifts may be necessary and almost at this time of year a habit....but they don't have to be forced. Learning how to let a person, place or situation simply be what it wants to be is the biggest shift we all could ever welcome.  Respecting where it's all at without expecting more.

Who knew the tides in their true nature could teach us to be us?