February 7, 2016
YOUR WAVE IS WAITING
I hope you all are enjoying this Super Bowl Sunday!!!! What an amazingly beautiful day here in the Bay Area for the premiere football event of the year! Personally, I am all about the half time show and the commercials, but thank goodness there is something for everyone watching the Super Bowl.
I was driving my almost 12-year-old to baseball yesterday and he was lamenting the lack of free time in his Saturday. He had drum lessons, followed by baseball practice, followed by another baseball practice, followed by an impromptu trip to San Francisco to go to Super Bowl City.
I completely understood how frustrating it must have felt to realize that his Saturday was completely void of what he considered “free time”. But all of a sudden, I found myself comparing life to surfing. What the hell, I do not surf! Surfing for me is one of those sports I always wanted to just show up and voila, I would be a natural on the board without any preparation or lessons. Surfing eludes me because catching a wave and riding it seems like the ultimate experience of freedom, nirvana, sheer bliss, and yet, the few times I have had the opportunity to surf, I have slowly allowed all my fears to suffocate any desire to try the board. But somehow, I seemed to be able to relay to my son that when you surf, you spend most of your time paddling and waiting. Paddling is tiring, but you have to paddle to get out to the waves. Most of life is spent paddling and waiting and all you have is your attitude during those times. You can either embrace how lucky you are that you are out in the ocean, that you have two strong arms to paddle, that you have a good board and hopefully, good friends to surf with or you can focus on how tiring and painful paddling is, how cold you might be, or spend your time worrying about what might be swimming underneath you. It’s really your choice – embrace what is in front of you or let it crush you. We are all waiting for our waves, for life’s wonderful and invigorating experiences, for our moments to feel free and to shine. But most days are spent paddling, over and over again, just an exhausting replay of the same routine.We have a choice in whether or not we find the glimmers of sunshine in our routine or allow it to pull us under the surface of the water. It’s a choice most of us make everyday.
Luckily for my son, he had a great day. He even got to “catch a wave” as in they got to see some of the free concerts in San Francisco as part of the Super Bowl events in the city. I am convinced that the more we can take control of our attitude, the better and higher the waves will be.
I hope to see you all this week! We have a full week of group classes waiting for you to join! Don’t forget to sign up online.
Cheers!