Are you just staring at the water?

There’s something powerful about teaching your children how to swim in the ocean.

It’s very different from getting into a swimming pool. And it’s even a bit intimidating.

What I mean by that is the ocean is bigger than you or me. It’s powerful, and massive, and random, and…

You do not control the ocean. The ocean controls you.

So when I taught my children how to swim in the ocean, the first lesson I had to teach them was how to first determine if going in was a good idea.

I taught them to look near. See how the waves broke upon the shore. Look for signs of rocks and/or shallows. Look for currents, especially ones that are moving away from shore.

I taught them to look far. See how rough/calm the water looked further out. Look for white caps. Look for how sets of waves would be coming in. 

And I taught them to look around. See what is happening outside of the water. Look for storms in the sky above. Look for risks from other sources – including other people.

Then decide if getting into the ocean is a good idea or not. 

But remember that the goal is to get into the ocean. The goal is to enjoy it, to learn from it, and to preserve it. It is not about avoiding the ocean.

This makes me think about how much of Life is similar.

We must all learn how to read what is happening. Life does have patterns. Some of these patterns will tell us to slow down. To pull back. Even to change course.

But we must still “enter the water.” We must not avoid Life because of the unknown. You see, the journey is the teacher. And we were made to learn from it.

I mua. Onward and upward.

All the best ~ Tim

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