Walking in the waves


It seems a little tame as a follow up to my last post, but that's the best part of what I have been doing this week. On the really warm days, I walk up to my waist and practice going with the flow. On the not-quite-so-warm days, I walk along the water's edge, sometimes in and sometimes out.


I am learning.

It doesn't look like learning from the outside. It looks like wandering or zoning out or just relaxing. And it is all those things.

From the inside, it doesn't feel like learning. It feels like walking, exploring, shell-seeking and splashing. And it is all those thing too.

Neither the inside or the outside holds the whole of the experience. Even when we put them together, we are missing something. We are missing the meaning of the experience, the patterns that I am walking into mind and body. The patterns at the edge of the water are the patterns at the edges of the world, at the edges of the mind. They are the patterns of negotiating change and identity.

The beach is the same every year. The beach is different every moment. Every reader understands this paradox. Analytically, it pulls in different directions. Experientially, it makes us whole.

And so, I am learning this week.

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