Riding the Energy Wave
I always know nature will provide me with salient metaphors for living. I spent a day last weekend swimming in the ocean off the coast of Massachusetts with my girlfriend and was reminded of this. Humans are drawn to beaches and oceans specifically for a reason. Oceans are appealing. They are consistent. Their vastness provides us with a sense of serenity, humility, and comfort. Within the water itself, we float in between states, neither standing firmly on earth nor flying through the air. Psychoanalysts believe that humans are drawn to water because floating in its ether can be likened to floating in the womb. We yearn for the security and beauty of the sea as a godly motherly figure. To float is to exist beyond duality, to be neither one thing nor another. It’s also really fun.
It only makes sense, then, that the mysterious inner and outer workings of the ocean can provide us with some valuable metaphors for living. Personally, I am drawn particularly to the meditative crash of ocean waves. I love the sound. I love the way the waves beat up against me when they hit. I love the sheer consistency and strength of them. No wave is ever the same as the wave that came before it, but it always arrives. Its energy flows, peaks, and then washes ashore. The cycle repeats itself endlessly. It is reliable and guaranteed; it is the way nature functions.
There are times in life that you experience waves of energy. This energy could come from some sort of hormonal harmony or internal feeling of balance. It could come from quitting bad habits, starting good habits, falling in love, achieving something you’ve worked hard for, or overcoming adversity. It could just come out of nowhere. In a given person’s life, these waves flow consistently. They are the way of nature. No matter how down in the dumps a person thinks they are, there are always energy waves. Some people recognize them and ride them, while others are distracted and let them go by.
When you assume an attitude of scarcity and attachment, you might not recognize these waves when they come along. They can even bash into you and knock you over if you aren’t prepared for them. This is what happens when people who have internalized destructive patterns of thinking experience things they should be grateful for— they miss them. It’s possible to be so engrossed by your own self-indulgent negativity that you don’t recognize when beautiful opportunities or even simple pleasures come along. In the same way that debt often creates more debt and bogs people down financially, an imbalance of thoughts pushes you in the direction you devote the most attention to. Negativity begets more negativity. Even if despondency is aesthetically appealing or culturally cool, it comes at a price.
Some people never learn how to pay attention to the waves. They get knocked down again and again simply because they have not figured out that they can attune their attention and prepare for the waves. Eventually, though, usually with age and maturity, most people figure out ways to deal with the waves. Some do this better than others. Those who do it best consciously work to cultivate the quality of their attention. They remain mindful at all times, lest they miss a distant swell that could develop into a wave.
When these waves do come along, and you’re prepared for them, they push you into the beautifully consistent rhythm of life. Learning to prepare yourself for the swell and the crash helps you remain versatile and consistent. In moulding yourself to work with the current rather than against it, you come to resemble the water yourself. Bruce Lee had a whole thing about this,
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
When you learn to ride the waves of energy that inevitably come at you, you put other pieces of the puzzle into place. Maybe an achievement puts you in a great mood— this mood makes you more confident, which makes you more sexually appealing, which makes you more prone to social interaction, which improves your career, which improves your financial security, which puts your mind at ease, which frees up more time for you to meditate and exercise, which in turn improves your mood. Get it? The snowball effect exists; recognizing it can be the difference between a life of misery, addiction and attachment and a life of gratitude, compassion, and benevolence. Pick the second one.
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