I'm writing this message to you on Thursday, September 5 while sitting oceanfront in a row of chairs during my week one of Paint, Paddle & Play. I'm dolphin watching. Normally, I would have seen some by now, every day in fact. This week has been different so far.
We drove in Monday, September 2, after an overnight in Alabama, and the weather was beautiful, but we had a late check-in and didn't get to the beach until after 5pm. We didn't get a chance to look for dolphins.
Tuesday was beautiful, but I was too busy with retreat set up to go to the beach. Tuesday was also windy and the waves were ginormous, which made it hard to see dolphins when I did stop to look through the windows for them.
Wednesday was also very windy, with huge waves. We had yoga on the beach that morning. Our yoga instructor told everyone that the dolphins always show up for yoga, as I have witnessed previously, but that today it would be harder to see them because of the big
waves. We didn't see any.
Finally today, Thursday, the ocean is a little bit calmer. Scanning from the shoreline, I thought I was seeing some movement and hoped the dolphins were finally going to be visible. I fixed my
gaze on that one particular section of the ocean looking intensely for them. I was determined, but after a few minutes, I still hadn't seen any.
Suddenly, I realized that by focusing so hard on one small section of the
ocean, I was limiting my chances. The dolphins could be slightly to the right or the left, and I was going to miss them because of my intense, narrowed focus. And suddenly I saw the lesson.
I limit my life when I narrow
in so closely to where I think something should appear, to the point of excluding gifts coming from other directions. I have a friend who always says, "Zoom out until God is back in the picture." Ahhh, yes.
Zoom out, get
a bigger perspective. Tunnel vision never shows me my best view. We need to frequently scan left, look center, and scan to the right for all the gifts we hope to find.
There are several daily meditations in
Finding the Gift about this very thing. Look at Holding Onto Crumbs, April 9. Also check out June 10, Turn Your Chair.
Life's too big for us to make it so small.
For today, zoom out to see the bigger picture. Consider how what you are seeking could come from another direction, or in another form. Allow everything that's in your experience to actually be part of your experience, rather than only
taking a small handful.
Gifts are too abundant for us to carry such a small basket.
May we all live in full expansion mode today.
