I was recently on holiday in Plettenberg Bay, where the sea is always warm and there is nothing more pressing to do than lie on the beach with a good book. It is natural in this holiday town to take many a wander down the silky stretch of sunlit sand, letting the cool water lap at your feet whilst the sun sizzles at your neck.
I found myself becoming rather introspective on one of these strolls, allowing myself a few ponderous moments as well as trying to appreciate every scent, movement and streak of colour that surrounded me. A few questions rose to the surface of my mind, one of which seeming the most important.
The question was this: Why is it that humans lack the ability to see and rejoice in that which is right in front of their eyes? Now who can oppose this statement-like question? Anyone? Ah I see..we are all too well aware of our distraction from our immediate surroundings to even try a word of protest. I don't know how many times I have had to forcefully remove my head from the clouds in order to better see the beauty that my eyes are quietly capturing. It is a frustrating habit which is shared by the majority of the human race according to Ekhart Tolle, author of The power of now and A new earth.
In Tolle's words we are trapped in our thinking and find it hard to separate ourselves from our thoughts, which we believe define us. Apparently this is not the case, as our identity is purely a self-created idea of what we are supposedly comprised of. Now whilst I do not subscribe to every word Tolle writes, I am definitely convinced by the idea that we are letting our everyday lives run away with us, our worries and stresses at the helm of the ship we call life. I am guilty of this and yet it is so incredibly difficult to achieve the zen-like state of mind which will allow me to appreciate the "now" and not the "then or when".
I know it is exceedingly difficult to separate ourselves from our stress and worry and allow ourselves to be 'guilt-free' in the present moment, but try and lose this sense of guilt -Why are you feeling guilty? Guilt is such a wasteful and damaging emotion, one which I abhor and fear in equal measures due to it being such a constant friend in dire times of regret. So I say try to lose the guilty feeling because what on earth does guilt lend to our lives? Just a tragic sense of nostalgia to time-travel into the past and change things supposedly for the better. It is exactly this nostalgia that traps us in the past and stops us from seeing the magic and wonder of what is happening at exactly. this. second.
So enough of that rambling, the essence of what I am trying to say is enjoy what is in front of you, for me it was the softly warmed sand rubbing in between my toes. The creamy froth of white horses, bubbling in the turbulent sea and spilling onto the sand in splashes of cappuccino foam. The call of the seagulls, circling an errant crab as he scuttled for his hole and a perfect shell, pearly and iridescent at my toes. These are all tiny moments, seemingly unimportant in the face of our towering, frenetic lives, and it is many a time that they go unnoticed as we sweep past on a wave of what we are 'meant' to be noticing. Try a little harder to slow down, look a little harder at that which surrounds you and I am sure you will see as I do that it is these little glimpses of synchronicity, of unashamed existence and beauty that remind us of what life is actually about.
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