“When we realize we are the Ocean, we are no longer afraid of the Waves.” ~ Unknown
I learned to swim when I was 30. I could doggy paddle and float on my back just fine as a kid, though no one else in my family swims so I never learned. Finally, I realized I really wanted to learn to scuba dive so I signed myself up for adult swimming lessons at UVA, where I was in graduate school at the time. I did well in that set of lessons, though I must confess that I am still nervous in the water. Despite that I am a Pisces, water is an uncomfortable medium for me.
I saw the quote above on my yoga teacher, Lauren’s, email signature yesterday. Perhaps this realization is what I’ve been missing. I see myself as separate from the water, despite the fact that our bodies are comprised mostly of water. I have been thinking of water as something I need to fight through, not something I need to be in communion with.
And isn’t that the way of our existence in the world, too. In our jobs, our relationships, our hardships, even in our most triumphant moments. Much of our human experience is a battle. We fight over, under, around, and through. But what if we could recognize that we are actually part of the great flow of energy? Could we utilize the energy around us not as something to cut through, but rather as something that is a part of us? That is us. We could take all of the effort we spend to fight our way through and put it toward lifting ourselves up while taking others with us.
Christa Avampato 