As I’ve shared in a recent essay, surfing has become a major element of my life over the last nine months. Maybe even a centerpiece. Life has afforded me the great fortune of having the time, space, and financial means to be in a deep exploration over the last year, which I am incredibly grateful for every day. My days are spent mostly in nature, in or around the ocean and/or rivers, in states of deep meditation and contemplation, and learning how to relate in an open-hearted way to my beloved partner.
It’s been the most beautiful year of my life, hands down, but also paradoxically one of the most challenging. It has reaffirmed the notion that pleasure and pain are not separate. However, I’m not referring to a challenge in a tangible way because my sensory lived experience is heaven on earth at the moment. Well, in some ways living in Costa Rica has its own challenges, but that’s a story for another day. I’m talking about an inward challenge. A mental, emotional, and spiritual challenge.
It seems that space brings about this hardship naturally because when all of the things that make us ourselves are removed there’s nothing left for the ego to identify with. What does it mean to be alive when we no longer make meaning of life through the things we create? When we become a silent witness of life by simply being with creation, being with what’s already here.
I believe many of us have come into contact with this space at some point over the last two years. The world has been shuffled and many of the things we previously identified with, have fallen away. Needless to say, it’s not an easy place to be. At least we can all relate to this on some level.
My point here is that although I’m living a dream life, (surfing, yoga, good food, better sex, and a home in a nearly untouched jungle paradise), it’s still work. It’s the type of work that I wish we prioritized as a society. I’ve slowed down my life enough in a way that everything I do is connecting me with my nature. With this slowness comes an awareness of all the ways in which I’m missing the boat on doing so. All the ways in which I’m attempting to barrow from the future, therefore giving up this moment. An awakening to how little presence I carry and hence how much of life I am missing. A harsh reality, but one worth investigating and attempting to refine. This is what I’ve been doing with my life. With my attention on this moment the outer world reflects to me exactly what I need to see. So, ‘the moment’ becomes my teacher.
I’ve had major support in this process from my partner, family, friends, and the nature that surrounds me. Most significantly from the ocean, which brings me to why I’m writing this in the first place.
When you’re able to see (i.e. be in presence) all information comes. What’s significant about this in my growing relationship with the ocean is that I’m becoming aware of how much information is transmitted through nature. This information informs us of the potential that we can access here at this moment. We often place this on some future goal or objective, which limits an otherwise sophisticated expression of ourselves.
I’ll give an example to make this more tangible. I notice my surfing capability is drastically enhanced when I am in a flow state. The flow state is just what was mentioned above, an embodiment; physical, mental, and spiritual or energetic here-ness. Why is it that I can access more competence in my surfing through this state? Because the moment is informing me. I’m accessing more information. My body is more in tune with the wave, my mind is relaxed but focused and precise, and my energy is matching that of the wave. Whatever information this wave is carrying is informing me how to join forces with it.
This is an example from my life, but this is happening through natural phenomena, daily, in everyone’s lived experience. Nature is constantly inviting us to collaborate. If we can tune into the moment we will have the space to receive information. This is where co-creation becomes possible and we experience an awakening of the exceptional qualities that were lying dormant within us before. In my example, surfing a wave far beyond my perceived capability.
Nature’s invitation to collaborate allows us to download the intelligence of life itself. This is nature’s highest gift and it’s the most abundant resource on the planet, life energy. When we collaborate with life, we recognize that we are actually stewards of this life energy. We are a part of the structure that holds the intelligence of life, the energy, and nurture it’s evolution. A significant idea to consider and take responsibility for, indeed.
In comparison to other years of my life, I have spent a noteworthy amount of time in nature this year. I guess the time spent is less important than the amount of presence. As a matter of course, this has come at the most optimal time in my life. It has allowed me to integrate many fragmented elements of myself, simply by being attentive and listening. There’s many methods that can bring us to collaboration with nature, but often it’s more simple than we create it to be. If we get too caught up in the method we’re moving away from our initial intention.
Slow down, find space, breathe and listen. The invitation is here and I’m writing this to encourage us all to remember it.