The Waves of Life
The waves of life!
Dreams ride the waves of life. When they get to shore they break, unless caught by a surfer, only then are they brought into reality. We are all surfers on the waves of life, we choose which waves we ride and which waves pass us by.
I recently put up some new prints in our office reception, one of which is a photo of a huge, nearly perfect, barrel wave breaking. It got me thinking about how a surfing analogy can provide some insight into how we choose to live our lives…
We are the instigators of our dreams. We create the reality we desire, by acting upon our inspirations. The dreams that we have relate directly to our goals. We may not always get what we want, but often the problem lies not in obtaining what we want, but in firstly deciding what opportunities to follow.
The waves represent opportunities we can choose to follow. We can’t ride every wave, even though we might like too. On the other hand, we can paddle around being extremely selective, in the hope of finding that one elusive awesome ride (which may never come). Or we can get out there, take some reasonable risks and explore all that life offers us.
Taking risks enables us to experience new things. We may make a few mistakes, fall off our boards and even get ”wiped out”, but without taking any risks at all we cannot learn and grow. The wipe outs or mistakes allow us to reflect. They help us to identify changes we need to make so we can advance. But if we paddle around aimlessly without taking any risks, we will never fully experience all of the dimensions of living.
We may sometimes try to ride waves that we aren’t yet ready to tackle. The wave just behind or in front may have been a better choice. But this is really a matter of growth and wisdom; knowing which opportunities suit our personality and goals. We may pick the wrong wave or realise that something isn’t quite right with the ride but we learn and grow in the process of choosing.
The waves keep coming. Which ones will you choose to ride?