A new year begins.
Our world certainly likes to chant rebirth and rejuvenation with every New Year doesn’t it?
The celebration of Christmas on December 25th is wonderful and all, but you can almost feel the tension building as the afternoon wanes and the adrenaline rush of expectation and anxiety caused by the previous months of preparation starts to get small in the review mirror of our mind….
Did you feel it coming…?
January. One.
That pressure to reinvent.
To bulldoze the past.
To somehow make the next 365 days of our lives more meaningful, more thrilling, more disciplined, more prosperous, more glamorous, more Instagram-worthy….
Ultimately the media doesn’t care what adjectives we insert…..as long as its….”more”
I’ve been reflecting on this and you know how much I love a good visual metaphor to put things into perspective 😊
On our island, there are 2 very distinct events that govern daily activity.
High Tide & Low Tide.
High Tide:
High tide is for swimming, floating, kayaking, picnics and endless fun! Villages come out of their homes to enjoy the clear water and spend time with family.
The Pacific unfurls its brilliance and shouts invitation to passers by that they may bathe in it’s splendor and be blessed!
At High Tide nothing seems impossible!
The air is fresh, the sea is lovely.
Maybe your 2020 started out exciting and full of wonderful new adventure. You’re on top of the world and all of life’s components are piecing together with precision and ease.
You’ve set prior goals, put in the work and pressed on through the thicket to reach new heights.
Good on you!
Or perhaps you were on the receiving end of tremendous spontaneous blessing! The unexpected boost of financial relief, a new relationship that is blooming or a general emotional uplifting that is washing over you and doing transformational work within that causes you to radiate joy. 😊
Great for you!
Enjoy High Tide!
Swim effortlessly in the clear, refreshing waters of those blessings.
Those times are exhilarating and precious. ❤
But what if your 2020 didn’t begin with cannons fired in rejoicing? Maybe you’re feeling too overwhelmed or emotionally drained to set goals that aspire to the level of attention that Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook demands?
Maybe the cannons that fired off at midnight seem to have been aimed at you instead of in celebration?
Maybe January has now become February and things aren’t looking any brighter?
Low Tide.
Low Tide is much different.Low Tide is somehow somber in comparison.
The water stills.
The colors fade.
The deep, sandy swimming hole retreats and is replaced by a sometimes pungent smell of stagnant water.
Swimming becomes near impossible and all the imperfections of the shoreline can be seen.
Has your year started a bit like Low Tide?
When you began seeing all those memes and lists and “14-steps to make 2020 the greatest ever!” did your heart ache a bit?
It’s okay.
These times come around for everyone.
Most importantly my dear… there is SO MUCH good to be gleaned during these moments in life ❤
I’ll share a few things I have learned by watching the tides here in the island.
While High Tide certainly affords all of the above stated adventures and more, low tide is where all the secrets are revealed. 🔎🔎🔎
Crabs scuttle across the rocky shoreline, reef fish can be seen darting in and out of their colorful homes and shorebirds begin feasting on whatever their beaks can grasp.
Now is the time when women can be seen carefully walking the coral shelf (often in generational pairs) in search of octopus and anemone. Even some great net fishing takes place at Low Tide because only when that lovely water retreats are these gals able to walk freely and find the places where ocean delicacies reside.
The Low Tides of life offer opportunity to look deeply into the recesses of our soul and seek out opportunity to nourish its deepest needs.
Seek.
Just as these women seek out food from the sea, we can glean food for our soul when life slows down.
Low Tide.
Quiet.
Time to Glean.
Hard times come to each of us.
Life isn’t always picnics and beach days.
The stillness is felt by us all.
We must remember that nothing last forever, even Low Tide.
My friends, when those Low Tides come, let us use the moments wisely.
Let us examine life’s shores more closely and find that otherwise hidden nourishment only revealed in dark times. ❤
Listen.
Today your sea may not be screaming with the Roar! of High Tide, it may seem listless, dull and lonely….but if we stop, look & listen we can hear that the waters are still teaming with life!!
If there is one thing that I have learned from endless hours of watching the Pacific….
Even in stillness, the sea is never silent….
❤🌏❤
From My Island 