Those big waves in life can be awesomely beautiful or risky and dangerous. Either way, they’re always powerful.
I am no different from you: when those big swells come up they can be intimidating. Sometimes, they’ve pulled me under.
It’s that way with being sick, with managing loss–it’s easy to get caught up in a wave and struggle for breath.
I’m learning that I can look at the wave, but not be attached to it or caught up in my fear and anxiety. No thinking of the past, no worrying about the future and no attachment to the wave that’s already hit me. I just look at it and sit with it.
It’s just a thought
When a sad thought comes up, I realize that it’s just a thought. I can let it go, if I want.
When I feel anxious I realize that it’s just a feeling. Feelings will come and they will go. I don’t have to spin out on it.
Someone wrote recently that we can ride the waves of change with grace and delight….and while it’s a worthy goal, I am a work in progress. Some change is not very delightful at all.
At the same time, when I don’t cling to my emotion, when I expand my awareness to find a flip side–and yes, sometimes I really have to search for it–when I do that, I find balance.
How about you?
This came to me at the perfect time. I’m going through so many changes in my life and needed to read something like this. Thank you 🙂
I like the imagery of riding the wave. You can either surf it or get sucked down under.
It really depends on what has happened. I tend not to dwell in sadness and focus on what is going forward.
Riding the waves of change with grace and delight- I so agree that even though it’s not so easy to brush off sad or hurt feelings, the key is to not wallow yourself in the negative feelings.
I wrote something similar two years ago when my brother died, Carol. Great advice as always x
I used to be so much better going with the flow and riding the waves of change. I think at some point I got tired of not having control and now I have a much harder time with it.
My cousin is often having this pessimistic thoughts and just can’t get out of it. I try my best to cheer her up. I am going to give your optimistic idea to her. Thanks.
When scary waves of pain and sorrow hit me, I find peace through meditating on God’s Word.
This is a very inspirational read. Every one of us has battles to face, most of them unknown to even our very own families. It is how we react to these “waves” that makes the difference.
You have such a great perspective. Love this. Thank you for the encouraging words….it really made me think.
I like the concept in this post, it can be really hard to just let thoughts and feelings bypass you without affect but really it is all in your mind so finding a way to move forward really helps.
This is a great post to post. I love that quote. It shows how we are being formed in our daily living.
This is great way to look at things. Maintaining a positive outlook is always the best. 🙂
When a sad thougth comes up, I realize it and quickily get some help from either reading some motivational stories or listen to great speaker from podcast to help me out with the pain.
Very positive outlook, and excellent use of the metaphor!
I need to keep this in mind more often! Its easy to get caught up in any negative thoughts but learning to get past it is so beneficial.
Great analogy. Going through cancer at times I felt like I was drowning beig sucked under a wave and thrown up on shore!