What We Can Learn from Riptides

I went to the beach yesterday. It was an act of courage.

Courageous, not because of the whipping winds and high surf that were forecast for the day here in Hawaii, but because I had the brave audacity to ignore the threats and taunts that screamed at me from the stacks of paper and to-do lists piled high on my desk. “How dare you leave us incomplete and unresolved! And, for … the beach?? What a lazy @#^& … ”

Yes, I courageously snubbed these commanding cries of “should’s” and “supposed-to’s” and even managed to flick away the feelings of guilt that tried to cling to my board shorts as I stepped out the door of my office and headed for the beach.

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When we step beyond the bounds of logic and reason, we engage the forces of creativity. For me that day, it was very satisfying. In addition to enjoying the warm and healing sunshine and a nice long walk in the sand, the needed break from my work yielded a valuable life-lesson and sparked the creative inspiration to write about it.

The ocean was rough and angry, and as I walked along the shoreline I noticed a riptide. This is a condition caused by an unusual clash of wind and waves, that results in a narrow trench of powerful backwash as the breaking waves seek a way back out to sea.

The reason riptides are so dangerous - and why people drown in them - is because the novice doesn’t know how to navigate their difficult conditions. When someone is caught in the strong “rip” and swept out to sea, they panic and swim furiously and instinctively … against it. Sadly, this is futile. Not only can’t the average swimmer overcome the powerful current, they expend enormous energies in fighting it so they quickly become exhausted and get taken under.

I sense that many people are feeling a little like that these days, as they fight the fierce current that is ripping through our global economy, wreaking havoc with their personal finances and possibly drowning their emotional well-being.

The way to survive a riptide, experts say, is to not fight it but swim with it. Now, this seems totally illogical, even paradoxical, but because most rip currents are only 30-100 ft. wide, experts advise that to escape its powerful pull, you should swim parallel to the shoreline in order to exit the trough. So, by relaxing your body and letting the tide take you out to sea, where it disperses in deeper water, you can then calmly swim beyond the narrow swath and head for shore. You can save even more energy by allowing the normal waves carry you back to safety.

This is a powerful lesson we can apply to circumstances in our own life, especially when extraordinary currents swirl around us and threaten our well-being.

By courageously choosing to go against our reflexes and instincts, we empower ourselves to access our higher, creative inspirations. By going with the flow of the current of the moment -- no matter how scary or illogical it may seem to be -- we can not only find our way to safe passage, but also save our energies for our positive forces within us that lead to opportunity and ultimately to new shores of possibility in our lives.

Here’s how you can apply this creative way of living in your life, in three easy steps:

1. Identify the #1 riptide in your life right now. What one issue has gripped your energy and threatens to pull you under?
2. Consider three ways you have tried to fight this tide by following your instincts to swim stronger -- that is by doing more of what logic says should give you the result you want but hasn’t worked no matter how hard you’ve tried.
3. Write down three ways you could go with the flow of this riptide -- how you could allow the power of the situation itself take you to a place of calm and to new opportunity and possibility.