They only last a moment – drink it in.
Summertime for me means a trip home to Maui, where my heart always longs to be.
Each time I return I always get a chance to experience and renew my love for this place and see friends that over many decades have made it so special.
I always make the trip alone and many people have questioned why.
The yearly visits home have become much more than a summer trip.
It’s become a place of life lessons for me.
Although it’s practically a perfect place, the trip is always far from perfect. I discover much about myself, some which I’m not particularly fond of, but I get stretched as a human being. There always seems to be something that happens that makes me take a good, hard look at what’s important.
My trip is about half over and of course a hard lesson’s arrived and it’s something I would have never seen coming. Although the temptation is to analyze the crap out the situation. The why, the what if – but after I got past that, it hit me hard.
We are never in control. Ever.
Things just get tossed your way. We’re here for only a moment – like a double rainbow. What illusion we have of control is just that – an illusion. To stop and breathe, to quiet our minds, and to learn to dwell in a place of gratefulness – no hurrying, no yesterdays or tomorrows, no what-if’s – just taking in the lesson. Seizing it. Embracing it. Being grateful for it.
Because each time you’re being polished and refined.
There’s joy and peace just being present in the moment. Present with the people you’re with for the little time you get to have with them.
So for the next week or so, I’ll windsurf, stand-up paddle, get a little too much sun, hope for a south swell to surf, heal a gash on my foot from the reef, hit health food stores, and occasionally brush my bleached-from-the-sun hair. I’m going to sip each day like it’s hot green tea and try to be open to whatever lessons life throws my way. There’s always another one coming. The refining never stops.
I’m not counting calories, or logging miles, or timing workouts. Focusing constantly on what workouts to do and what to eat can steal away life’s moments and joy. We can become so busy looking in the mirror we miss everything around us. We can become pulled away from the things that truly matter. We can miss the lesson. I find that when I look past myself (not always easy to do), become less self-focused, and become grateful and focused on others, the healthy decisions just seem to fall into place.
And now for your perspective — Do you feel you embrace the lessons in your life?
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