Watching the Waves

a look back at a previous post

I’ve been writing short-form pieces for over 10 years now. In anticipation of a trip back to the Maine coast in a week or so, I share with you a reflection from 2021. Enjoy!

I recently had the chance to spend a few days on the coast of Maine.  It was a rare opportunity to "power down" and let go of work responsibilities and spend time by the ocean.

In between walks along the beach and qigong sessions in the sand I took some time to simply meditate, sitting quietly in my room overlooking the sand and the sea.  The tide was on its way in, and the play of the waves as they came ever closer was mesmerizing.

The phrase that came to mind was "endlessly entertaining."  The movement of the waves, the froth of white against the deep blue water, with a paler blue sky and sandy beach... I could indeed be endlessly entertained by all of it.  And yet... I raised my eyes just a bit to see the space between waves and horizon, the deep blue of the ocean where movement was not yet evident, only farther below the surface.  

Endlessly entertaining!  These are my thoughts, my worries, my distractions day in and day out as I try to focus, relax, enter into something deeper and truer.  Meditation, I suspect, endeavors (if it endeavors anything) to release distractions and enter into deeper places.  And yet, those distractions are so very entertaining!  Dancing about in one's mind, showing off their endless variety and motion, they are incredibly effective at keeping one from doing the essential task at hand.

All it took was raising my eyes - just a bit, just a few inches, really.  I had to do it over and over, of course, since one can never actually stop the tides, of oceans or of thoughts. But it was a helpful moment, one which I will look forward to reliving, in meditations at the hermitage, and perhaps again on the coast of Maine.