I often seek clarity from the ocean.

Perhaps it’s because I grew up in a coastal town and spent summers at my family’s beach house a couple towns away. It brings calmness to any head-spinning situations I have. I truly believe that the sea washes worries away. I think this is true with everything in nature—that if you sit still for long enough, you begin to understand all that the world has to offer (sans mankind).

A couple weeks ago, I was having a hard time in my transition home from school. A combination of a lot of things left me feeling lost from myself. I drove down to my favorite beach, sat on the sidewalk and began to listen. Slowly, I began to understand.

Crashing Waves

I’d never noticed, or hadn’t payed attention to, the color of waves before. The ocean as a whole is a calming blue. But as soon as a wave begins to take form, green lifts up underneath it. I’m not sure if this only happens in storms or at specific tides, but it brought great understanding to my life.

The issues that occur in my life, and the crashing feeling that comes along with them, are like waves. They begin calm and tranquil, and then pull the peace from under me.

Underneath these issues is green, which usually represents guilt, envy, jealousy and greed. Bad things. Bad karma.

Eventually, the waves crash. Some are bigger than others, but all come back to tranquility. The white of the wave symbolizes the clarity found after bad times. But in the end, everything is always okay.

This helped me realize that most problems (like greed, jealousy, disrespect, envy, etc.) stem from bad karmic situations. Once we step away from them, or let them run their course, everything will be okay and the hectic, head-spinning times cease.

Horizon

Have you ever noticed how the rule of illusion where two parallel lines disappear in the horizon doesn’t apply to the ocean? If you look down a hallway or a road, the end seems to come to a smaller point. With the ocean, it’s endless. It’s wide, vast and never-ending.

It reminds me of the possibilities in life—that I should never feel too big or too small. I am me, and I am a part of this world—I serve a purpose. When things go wrong, there are endless opportunities to move forward.

So never feel lost, or found. It’s a journey, there’s no destination. we can only take things day by day and we must never lose hope because something throws us off of the path. Instead, find somewhere else to continue on the journey. Possibilities in every aspect of life are endless; we just have to decide what we want and never give up on it.

Wind

After taking in the scenery, I closed my eyes. I was hurting deeply, searching for answers I didn’t even have the questions to. I let the wind mess up my hair, bring a chill to my skin and breathe fresh air on my mind.

Sometimes that’s all we need—fresh air. Taking in the new and leaving behind the bad takes a weight off of the shoulders. Just simply letting the universe be around us makes us feel weightless. It’s somewhat of a meditation, a suspension between consciousness and some form of higher thinking. It’s the best medicine around.

Find solitude in the world around you. We often don’t take the Earth for what it is—our home. Let the ocean (or the mountains or a field) wash away your tears and guide you back to serenity.

Find meaning in your surroundings and you may just find the answers you have been looking for.

Author: Taylor Vallee

Editor: Evan Yerburgh

Image: Flickr