The Whispers of the Pacific Ocean

It felt as though I was gazing at the Pacific Ocean for the first time and not the 50th time. Few things preserve the true likeness to that first time experience as well as greeting the Pacific ocean.

I had walked in the chill of Southern California morning air with clear intent to photograph the ocean, only to fall to my knees and stare in a stupor at the glorious view upon arrival. Calm and quiet waters, slow and steady waves, I felt as though I could meditate forever simply by looking at this vastness that is before me. How splendid the feeling that everything stops to matter in the grand scheme of things, if only for a few delicious minutes. I was feeling light and heavy, free and chained, loved and lost. Time was slowing down and disappearing into the magnificent morning light, into the breeze and into the crashing waves.

I was at the mercy of this overwhelming feeling and I loved it.

I had no business feeling so much when I was on such a tight schedule. This was a busy day with all my minutes and hours planned well in advance. I had not come here to lose all my senses and to be drawn deeper and deeper into the spell of this magic. I had come here with one purpose — to capture the morning light on the waves and then be on my way – but a different plan emerged, uninvited, unsolicited, and unsought.

My schedule and agenda fell by the way side and my whole body and mind fell into a reverie.

This is why I don’t live near the ocean, I told myself, because I would get nothing done. Nothing useful and worthwhile would ever be accomplished. There! It is my greatest consolation and my best excuse. Yet it is this very act of doing things that loses all perspective and meaning when you are in the vicinity of the ocean. The ocean wins every time and like every other soul on the planet, I dream of a day that I can commune daily with the ocean.

There are not words adequate enough and eternity long enough for even the greatest author on earth to completely articulate the power and the magic of the ocean on the human mind and body. There are not writers skilled enough to explain the inexplicable majesty and glory of the ocean. There is not intelligence high enough on the human scale to comprehend the full capacity and potential of the ocean.

How does the ocean represent so much contrast and yet exist in such unity?

The ocean, with all its greed and self-indulgence, calls our names and captivates our souls without so much as permission. It mesmerizes without prejudice upon greeting and leaves us wanting more — oh so much more — upon leaving. The ocean is selfish and generous, dangerous and calm, hostile and peaceful. It holds special powers  and affects all of us humans from every walk of life and at every stage of life. No one walks away untouched from its allure and aura. No one is immune to its lust. No one is impervious to the enchantment of the ocean.

With all the powers that it holds in the palms of its magnificent hands, can we not let the ocean show us the way once in a while?

Can we not let it solve our problems, shift our perspective, engage us with our higher self, and remove us from the self-destructive one? Can we not learn from the ocean? Can we not emulate its aura and allure in our own life? Can we not recreate its vastness in our mind? Can we not begin to imagine being more like the ocean, filling life with breath of possibilities rather than sighs of struggle and regrets?

The ocean accommodates the entire spectrum of human emotions. For every emotion, the ocean has an answer, a remedy, a therapy, a way of reaching into our hearts and making us feel wholesome and complete again.

• When you feel hurt after a quarrel with your partner, the ocean makes it all insignificant in the right perspective.
• When you feel angry, the ocean acknowledges your anger with its chaotic waves and yet calms you down with its return to quietude and steadiness.
• When you feel lost, the ocean proves to you that you will find your way home just as every wave finds its way to the shore.
• When you feel lonely, the ocean whispers a thousand whispers in your ears and keeps you company for a while.
• When you feel stress and anxiety, the ocean sound gives you the ultimate therapy.
• When you feel big and larger than life, the ocean will try hard not to laugh at you.
• When you feel invincible, the ocean will bring you humility.
• When you feel discouraged, the ocean reminds you about how a crashing wave chips away at a hard rock over time so take heart, for anything is possible.
• When you grieve the loss of someone, the ocean grounds and reminds you that life is finite and we all return to earth at some point.
• And when you feel happy and full of life, the ocean echoes your sentiments and sends your amazing energy into its incredible ebbs and flows.

Have you let the ocean whisper to you lately?

Kaizen Vision put it so beautifully during our brief encounter in California:
“The ocean gives us an incredible sense of peace. Looking out at the ocean, we see endlessness, complete totality of possibilities. All of life opens up to us and our vision of what is, and what can be, expands. Nothing appears to be impossible and the vastness of life embraces us. It’s where mind and spirit soar and cleanse our limited thinking – everything opens up. Time stops, our minds open, a deep sense of release happens – in that massive openness of the ocean.”