Be still.
Born in January.
Thrown into the ocean in July.
The concept of drowning has always confounded me.
Recently I’ve had the misfortune of stumbling onto an algorithm that showed me people drowning, some rescued and some not. That’s when I noticed something incredibly peculiar about drowning.
In all the tragic occurrences I witnessed, each person put all their strength and will power into actively pushing the water above them. It’s not that they didn’t know how to swim, it’s that they didn’t know how to not be in a state of panic.
And then I thought ‘huh… I must look like that’.
Today’s lesson from the ocean is on how to be idyl, and how to float. The utility of passivity. The importance of being still.
Learning how to swim is learning how to float. It’s in knowing that in your natural state, you are alive and well.
Life is like that. There’s no need to struggle, to pile on the crushing weight of what’s around us on top of ourselves until we are in peril.
Instead, stop what you are doing. For a moment, let your body do what it does naturally.
Take a deep breath.
Enjoy the sun that rose to meet you, and glide.
💙 ah like the concept of surrender, which is, I recently read, an act of will.
Love both of these.