In my youth as a Lifeguard we use to go straight to Wedge in Newport after our shift at Huntington Beach to body surf the big waves, 20-25 footers when the surf was up. It was exciting and dangerous but we were all world class swimmers, many even world record holders and Olympians. What was so exciting was what we called going over the falls. This meant swimming as fast as we could for a few strokes catching the wave, without the aid of fins, then ride the wave over the falls. When we were on the top of the wave and looked down, some 20 ft or so, there was at times terror with only sand often below. We would pray that by the time we fell there would be water below. There was always the risk of breaking our neck if we hit bottom before the water was under us. I realized today when sitting, after body surfing in Maui in 5-8 ft waves and crashing, how applicable body surfing is to life. We ride the waves of life, rising to the top and then taking the fall and just how thrilling and scary it can be, when we are high up on life like a wave we feel the excitement of it all looking down there is the thrill and then the crash comes and we can actually lose our life, literally break our neck. This rising and falling is taking life to its fullest, living it completely and not holding anything back. We learn from these rises and falls respect for the surf or for life itself. We learn that nothing happens without risk. We learn appreciation for this moment and this life because we could be dead the next, we never know. We discover that when we allow ourself to become inflated and intoxicated with the high that there is always a great fall following. Life is rises and falls, what goes up must come down. When body surfing we learn to completely relax in the wave, to surrender to it, when we are tumbled and can barely hold our breath until we can get back to the surface before another wave comes and knocks us back down. The secret is not fearing, stay relaxed and calm, loose and natural, not fighting it, and be patient until the set of waves passes and we can get back out for another ride another rise and fall. This is life when we chose to live life it on the edge.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 18:03:09 +0000
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