Do you ever wish you could bottle the beach and take it with you everywhere?

It’s just so chill, and you feel such a connection with every part of it. That’s why I think the beach is a great place to meditate.  Rhythmic waves, soft air, and the warm sun help me empty thoughts from my mind like nothing else. Why do I find it so calming and relaxing? It’s as if my brain waves recognize ocean waves and go out to sea to play together, leaving me in peace for a short time. It’s like taking your dog to the dog park and letting him go frolic with his own kind while you relax on the bench.

Throughout his notebooks, Leonardo Da Vinci praised the virtues of observation and experience over knowledge gained solely through books.

“Thus, you who observe rely not on authors who have merely by their imagination wished to be interpreters between nature and man, but on those alone who have applied their minds not to the hints of nature but to the results of their experience.” ~ Da Vinci

(I found that 500-year-old Italian translated into modern English equals roughly the same comprehension level as the first time I read Shakespeare in high school. I gotta read that again).

So, after a bit of research on the causes of waves in the ocean and basic physics, I set out to bottle the beach, so to speak.

Waves are everywhere. They permeate everything we see and continue on forever. Light is photons, and travels in wave patterns. The ocean moves in waves. Our breath rises and falls in waves. The electrical activity in our brains creates wave patterns. Radio waves are so named because sound also travels in waves. People universally practice waving at each other coming and going, usually unaware of the gesture’s ironic imitation of nature.

What does it all mean?

Imagine you and I are floating in the ocean, bobbing up and down as the same wave of energy reaches first you and then passed through me. We are connected by this energy moving through the water, even though we can’t see it. We only see the water it is affecting.

But that wave we just rode began 93 million miles away on the sun. The sun’s ray energy is a wave, and was transferred from the sun to the Earth, which in combination with gravity, produce movements in the ocean. Read more about gravity waves here.

Waves are the most efficient means of transferring energy and information. They exist throughout nature and the entire universe, even if we don’t see them.

If waves are everywhere, then aren’t we all connected to everything else both on this planet and beyond? Maybe that is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (I’ve always suspected Douglas Adams was a bit off with “42”).

Although waves transport energy and not matter, they can have a dramatic effect on matter.

Think of a tsunami wave, a wave of light, a focused laser beam, or hearing the thunder crack of a sonic boom. Sound waves can shatter glass; laser beams can slice through steel.

If our brainwaves transport our thought energy, then what effects are we creating with our thoughts in both our daily lives and in the world?

A lot of our energy goes into our thoughts. How many times have you come home exhausted after a long day of work? Not from physical exertion, just sitting in a chair at a desk, using your brain, thinking and solving problems?

Thoughts are powerful. You are sending out thoughts every second of your life. Make them envoys of the reality you want to create for yourself and the people you love.

Next time you feel overwhelmed, close your eyes and imagine uncorking your beach bottle. Let everything go just for a few minutes. Let your calm engulf you and wash away any negativity. Refocus your thoughts on who you are and where you are going.

Maybe even one day you won’t bother to re-cork it. You’ll smash the bottle and let it become the permanent reality in which you live your life. I think they call that ‘enlightenment,’ when you are the in charge of your thoughts, and not at the mercy of them.

Whatever it’s called, it sounds good to me.

Not sure how to refocus or don’t know where you are going yet? Aim for peace, love and happiness. It’s a good direction to start.

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Assistant Editor: Renee Picard/Editor: Bryonie Wise

Image: courtesy Amy Cheever