See below for the words of the poems and story and other links mentioned in episode #47 of the Landscaping Your Life with Alison Smith podcast (available from where you listen to your podcasts including Apple & Spotify).
Before then here's some more general information about the podcast and the Landscaping Your Life process used in the podcasts to help you get back on track when you don't know what to do.
Here's the two poems and short story shared on episode #47 of the podcast.
I also mention the blog post on values, and Grounding to me poem from podcast episode 45 (Spotify/Apple). And here's the notes from a Transformation Game that talk to getting off the hamster wheel and where love makes a appearance too.
Chasing the tide
Catching the next wave
It’s not about waiting, nor patience
It’s about putting ourselves out there
Where the waves are
Watching the weather forecasts for the conditions that generate those waves
Not just any wave
Certainly not just the next wave that we encounter
But that wave with the promise of joy
A joy that brings us into this moment
A joy that expands our thinking and possibilities of what could be
When will you catch the next wave?
And where do you need to be to make that a possibility?
The Wave
They were a wave and they were a very lonely wave.
The wave had travelled the globe in search of something more than the life they had. Surely there must be more to life than rising and falling and being dictated to by the bright glowing circle in the sky.
The wave tried to ask other waves if they felt the same but they never stayed around long enough to give an answer. From watching them the wave thought the other waves looked satisfied enough. The sounds they made when the wind whipped them against the cliffs in far flung places certainly sounded like enjoyment. Although the wave did wonder about that as they’d never had the courage to actually have a go themself. Instead they chose to hang back and watch as other waves moved forward and took the momentum.
The wave tried to change their shape like some other waves so that they may take the surfers into their very centre and yet the wave hung back scared of hurting them. They’d also tried to do that thing with the air to make their very edges all white and foamy. But the wave withdrew fearing they’d not be able to go back to how they were.
The wave also envied those waves who had the confidence to carry large ships towards their destination in their wake.
It was on one such day when the wave really had had enough. They really were useless and couldn’t do anything all the other waves could. Either they didn’t have the courage, the experience or the expertise. They also didn’t have anywave to ask questions and share it all with.
It was in this heavy and depressing mood that they felt themself dragged down. Dragged deeper than they’d ever been before.
Deeper,
Darker,
Colder.
If they had felt fear in the past it was nothing to how they felt now. Down and down they went.
Deeper,
Darker,
Colder.
Their thoughts slowed right down, as if time itself was starting to move into slow motion.
Deeper.
Darker.
Colder.
Until the wave finally came to a stop.
The wave couldn’t see anything, they couldn’t feel anything and they were struggling to think anything. They realised they were very tense and tried very hard to relax and allow some space between every fibre of their being.
As the wave did this they realised that they felt a little better. So for the next few - they didn’t know what they were - they could have been seconds, minutes, hours, days or even weeks. So, all we can say is that as time passed the wave felt lighter.
They practiced very hard allowing space in-between every fibre of their being. They couldn’t do it all at once. They had to pick some part of them and concentrate very hard on that part and just breathe and allow space inside. It was as if part by part the wave was getting lighter and brighter, and was it their imagination or were they feeling a little warmer too?
What the wave found however was as soon as they started to wonder about what was happening, how it was happening and try to make it go quicker they started to feel the cold, they started to emanate less light. Each time they then had to take a breath and start all over again. Slowly working their away around each part of themself.
Over time the wave was able to hold on to this lighter and brighter state for longer. They found they didn’t have to concentrate quite so hard and could still manage to maintain this lighter and brighter state.
Finally, the wave managed to be the lighter and brighter state.
It was as if they had changed. It was as if they were no longer the wave trying to be brighter, trying to be lighter they were simply a bright and light wave.
The wave puzzled over this for some time. They felt like they were still themself but they somehow knew they were different. The added brightness and added lightness had in some way changed them.
Of course what the wave had failed to notice was that once they were this different state they had also started to rise. Until finally they neared the surface and noticed their own lightness reflected in the water around them. They came to the surface and took a deep breath and allowed the rays of the sun to warm them.
They looked around them and could see many waves all with the same lightness and same brightness as them. The wave felt an acceptance from them that they had never felt before. An acceptance for who they were and not what they could or couldn’t do.
The wave stayed with the other waves for many moons. They did many things they’d never tried before. The wave especially enjoyed the rushing into caves and being dragged back out with the momentum of those around them. They even had time to perfect the tender holding of surfers as they danced within their very core.
After one particularly exciting day they started to feel different. They started to feel even brighter and even lighter. As if even the very binds that were holding every part of them together were being pulled gently apart. Having been in the deep, dark and cold place before they didn’t consider this scary and even felt some excitement about what was happening.
And so, they simply allowed the transformation to take place. Until it was as if the wave was everything and everywhere all at the same time. There was certainly more ease, even more light, and bright just wasn’t the word for it. The wave just was and realised that they had always been all that there is LOVE.
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