Let the Sea Set You Free

Friday, July 14, 2017

Seas the Day

The ocean is one of the most beautiful things in the world. For me, happiness comes in salt water with my favorite colour being sunset! Not only is the sea the one thing that connects us all together as humans but it also teaches us many lessons on how we can develop, grow and 'seas' the day.

1. Go With the Flow

You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf', a quote that my beautiful friend Sarah once told me. The ocean teaches us the art of surrendering all which you think you know and accepting what is. The sea knows no boundaries, it moves with the wind, flows with the currents, manoeuvres through the shape of the land over which it flows...what if we could be like that too? Surrendering to what is does not mean giving up or that you are happy with a situation. Through acceptance you will gain a clear perspective on how to initiate change. Eckhart Tolle describes in his book 'The Power of Now' that if you are drowning at sea, flailing around in the water, screaming that it's unfair and gasping to stay afloat will not change your situation. However, through accepting what is and surrendering to 'the flow' (literally) you can then make a more informed choice on how exactly you are going to save yourself.

2. Never Give Up

Each time a wave kisses the shoreline it's immediately pulled back, but it returns constantly, it never gives up. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. However, like snowflakes and finger prints, each wave's ebb and flow is different yet hopeful in whatever it aims to achieve. The sea teaches us how to keep going in adversity and to try and try again.

3. You Are a Force of Nature

Have you ever stood with your toes in the damp sand to only be soaked by a giant wave seconds later? Nature is unstoppable, uncontainable, uncontrollable...and so are you. Do not underestimate the power of your mind, body and soul. Like a tsunami you can move mountains, like the rain you can cleanse souls and like steam you can rise again. You can do whatever you set your mind to, you contain all the power within yourself. We have more in common with the sea then we think, after all, we are both salt water mixed with air.

4. You Can Change

A few weeks ago I found myself in tears explaining how I feel like the fluidity of water. 'I feel like liquid. I don't know who I am...I don't know my boundaries...pour me into a cup and I will be that cup, pour me into a glass cube and I will willingly become the cube. I will do anything to make others happy but it leaves me feeling fake, fraudulent...lost. Oh my God am I Polonius from Hamlet?!?'...(yes this was a genuine conversation, lol at me). The reply was simple yet terrifying, 'Ah yes, an adaptation of the chameleon effect in psychology, sometimes seen in extreme perfectionists, like you'. When I was replaying this conversation in my head and trying to figure out ways in which I could become more in line with my core values, I questioned why I had described the feeling as water-like rather than that of a reptile? It clicked with me that perhaps some part of me new that I have the power to change. Unlike a chameleon, water can diversify. It can form into strong towering ice bergs, light fluffy clouds or even soft yet dense vapour. We are not confined to the person we were last year, yesterday or even five seconds ago; we can constantly change and grow into who we truly are and want to be.

5. There's More to You

'Her sentences were icebergs with just the tip of her thoughts coming out of her mouth, the rest kept up in her head'. We are all aware of the Titanic tragedy, who could have known that something which appeared so defined and distinct was in fact much more immense than anyone could have ever imagined. Like icebergs, there is so much more to you than meets the eye. I don't know the real you; your biggest fears and dreams, your favorite memories, your deepest secrets, just as you don't know mine. There is so much more beneath everyone's perceived surface level. Someone may seem happy and successful but perhaps they are miserable and lonely within. Next time you feel an urge to judge a person or situation, try and think of a floating block of ice, you never know what is occurring underneath.

6. You Have a Choice
'An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you'. Life is nothing but a matter of perspective, change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. Stay hopeful, positive and expectant of good, you never know what might just happen.

What lessons have you learned from the sea? I hope you enjoyed this post, please leave any suggestions or questions in the comments below or anonymously in the 'ASK' section of my blog. Click here to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on new blog posts. Thank you so much for reading!

lots of love & peace & happiness
Lauren x