sailing and life

There is a rhythm in life that we dance to everyday. Sometimes the steps are familiar and
sometimes they are new and awkward to us...no matter how hard we try, sometimes we can't
feel the ease of the dance...and then the music changes again ever so slightly and a safe,
new but comfortable beat finds it's way to our dance floor.

This safe steady rhythm is like a sanctuary...a music we all shelter in us...a music that
allows our hearts to dance with passion, wholeness, freedom and freshness. We find this
music through different instruments and if we listen so carefully we learn to master our
instrument and crave to play whenever our souls desire nurturing.

Sailing is my instrument of playing the music of my heart's sanctuary. It is within this
music that my soul feels free to trust my emotions...all of my emotions. I can allow
myself to feel the power of the wind and the water and to be afraid of the strength they
have. Yet, I can celebrate the will, the determination that my body harbors and know that
my limits are always greater than I first believe.
I can give myself permission to feel afraid...the elements are greater than me...yet I can
feel strong in my weakness...I can feel alone, in my own world on a body of water much
larger than my eye views...I am small yet there is so very much to accompany me...so much
in nature for me to connect with.
I am happy yet, solemn in both the beauty and pain of the world.
I am secure in who I am...including my faults and weaknesses. Passionate in my desires to
give all the good that life offers to those I love including my own being.
I have an ambition like none other...I am content to sail where I am, but a desire calls
me to take on adventures that play in my mind and tempt me with their images.
And I am confident that just as in sailing when the wind dies and then comes back, I know
that if I lose my rhythm, if I falter in the steps of my dance, I can have hope that my
stumbling will teach me a new direction...a new tune that will bring melodies for my
spirit to dance around.
Sailing is always a forward trip...the wind and the sails only move us to a place ahead of
where we came...when I am sailing I know that my being is going forward also.