Sailing a boat from what I’m told is an extreme joy, very calming, very relaxing and an activity that removes one from the stresses of the outside world.
But one quiet day while taking a drive a bit of truth came to me as I parked my car near a local lake to observe the wonderment of this thing called sailing.
Although that lake had a good amount of sailboats in it what strikes me about the overall “vibe” is that it is so quiet! I mean, there aren’t any motors running to power the sailboat as it is all “fueled” by the gentle breezes that for the most part appear to be almost undetectable. Isn’t that something? Those sailboats may be much smaller than the heavier motor driven boats but they still have weight to them yet even the most gentle breeze can power that boat naturally to go anywhere that the person guiding it wants to go!
Wow!
While these facts are so very obvious, you know how I get when presented with something that most overlook, I just HAD to find the deeper meaning in all of this while I sat there in my car transfixed at this beautiful and peaceful scene.
What did I get out of this? Well, look at it this way, that individual guiding that boat occupied a lake with so many other sailors yet not at any one time did it appear that they were in danger of colliding with one another! Every boat appeared to be in complete control under the guidance of the one who controlled those sails. This required not only the technical skills to navigate the sailboat so excellently, but an “intuition” that guided the skill!
Every person who sailed in that was aware of everyone else who came close to them as they would smoothly bypass each other effortlessly as though this some type of well practiced synchronized well rehearsed production where everyone knew what would happen from one moment to the next!
But how could this be when the winds that fueled this beautiful display of peace and balance came in an unexpected manner and just couldn’t have been a predictable factor in such a well organized activity.
This is where the intuition and skill of the sailor came into play! You see, if he/she wanted to guide that boat from point “A” to point “B” they had to possess the where with all to get there regardless as to which direction the winds blew!
Pretty amazing to say the least…….
And while I do not know the proper terminology that may be used in the sport of sailing I will try my best to convey the point that I am trying to make to the best of my literary abilities.
If the sailor had a wind coming in strong from a northern direction at a particular moment only to experience that strong northern wind change to a weaker breeze coming in from the west before experiencing a strong southern gust, he/she had to make seamless adjustments and act swiftly with those decisions as to avoid capsizing their boat because of their failure to adjust in a timely manner.
No matter what type of wind conditions exist in the vicinity of that lake, the who is in control of that sailboat finds a way to get it to where he/she wants it to go. This definitely requires a mastery, knowledge and control of not only the sailboat but themselves as they must calmly possess nerves of steel if presented with a swift fluctuation in wind conditions…….talk about having FOCUS!!!!!
And although I have never sailed before I can remember way back in the summers of ’74 and ’75 being up in upstate New York Camp Treetops in the Adirondack Mountains near Canada, there were plenty of rich kids there who shared with me their love for sailing and explained the challenges that one had when you were in control of that boat. I’ll never forget this one kid nicknamed “Bundy” who lived and breathed sailing, we all were around 11 years old at the time. I can remember him getting permission under adult supervision to take one of the camps sailboats out on the lake; what a display of expertise and skill did HE put on that day! It is something that I will NEVER forget! Not to get off topic but here was an 11 year old kid who had mastered a difficult skill back in 1974 and we have some of our youth who can’t even tell you what time it is off of a traditional clock with hands if there isn’t a digital clock present! I know where ever my old buddy Bundy is, he is quite successful in his chosen area of life. That type of focus that he possessed at such a young age is transferable to any other endeavor in life!
But back to the point in how all of this relates to life…….
How many of us have mastered not only ourselves, but the unexpected winds that have come our way in the form of unexpected life scenarios good and bad?
How many of us have allowed our “boats” or “goals” to become capsized because we lacked the mastery of those necessary skills that would have brought us into our dreams victoriously if only we possessed a little more knowledge to navigate those troubling waters?
If my analogy of the sailboat holds true across the board then we can safely say that there are NO bad situations in this life that can hinder us from advancing, it’s all how we DEAL with them!
In this life the perfect wind hardly ever comes so we have to learn to master the various situations that come our way that may not seem conducive to pushing us to our goals and into our desired reality. Ever hear the term “when life serves you lemons, make lemonade?”
Like that individual who has mastered the sailboat, we must know where it is that we want to go in life or the wind gusts and breezes will take control of our life and we will find ourselves so far away from our original intended goal.
The unexpected wind gusts and strong winds of adversity must be anticipated so that you can know how to prepare for them beforehand, the personal attacks on your job, the manipulations and smear jobs of those who share your D.N.A., and the inner struggles that we all deal with that are hidden from the naked eye.
If the sail on the sailboat were a rigid non flexible apparatus then the joys of sailing would never be realized for very long as the first encounter with a wind that didn’t agree with the angle of the stiff sail would surely capsize it. How many of us get along just fine in life in our various stations that we occupy until someone comes across our path that does not placate us in our ways only to cause us to capsize after the initial clash of personalities? Interesting. This tells me that in order to survive this earthly terrain that we MUST strive to come out of our rigid ways and become more flexible even if feels uncomfortable to “bend” our opinions, daily rituals and way of doing things in order to survive the battle and win the war.
We have to be flexible and think “around” life’s challenges because if we don’t then we will surely be stuck. How many times have we idled in our vehicles behind a bus, ambulance or truck in front of us on the roadway for long minutes thinking that we were in a traffic jam only to find that when you cautiously went around the vehicle in front of you, the road was empty? You then felt a little foolish and maybe angry at yourself for not challenging what appeared to be reality in the first place. It’s okay. It happens to the best of us. Perception is everything and we must always challenge our perceptions so we can take advantage of the strong wind gusts that come our way and allow it to power us on to a faster victory with less effort from us!
Isn’t that something? Did you hear what I said in the previous paragraph? “……with less effort from us!” Really look at those words and what they mean. If the sailor fights AGAINST the wind, he only tires himself out and doesn’t truly get to where he want to go. But if he flows with the energy thrown his/her way, he can capture the momentum of that strong force in the sail and make it benefit HIM for his agenda!
If you fight against that co-worker who is brown nosing for that promotion with the supervisors while attempting to make you look bad, take that person’s energy that they are aiming in your direction and work even HARDER while always complimenting your haters work ethic. The bosses will have NO CHOICE to see the situation for what it is because YOU are not emitting anything negative from your soul to the universe and only good things can come back to you eventually even when it may not seem to get there when you want it, it will ALWAYS be on time!
…….and this is how it is in life, when the attacks come, expected and unexpected we must be so in tune with not only ourselves but our Creator in such a way that the answer will come to us on how to deal with the situation and turn it into an personal advantage. You can’t practice for this type of “knowing”, you must be connected, prayed up with constant meditation and possess a consciousness that is completely in the moment. So much so that everything around you will appear to be in slow motion, enabling you the “time” to act accordingly in a manner that will be of benefit to you in the long term. And as I mentioned earlier a few paragraphs back as in the case of that sailor: “This definitely requires a mastery, knowledge and control of not only the sailboat but themselves as they must calmly possess nerves of steel if presented with a swift fluctuation in wind conditions.” In this case we are not speaking of the wind conditions but the “people” conditions……..mastery, knowledge and control, never forget that!
Think back to when you were a small child who just entered school, when you got angry the entire classroom knew it because you did not possess the maturity or depth of character to hide it and deal with dispersing it in a measure way. You may have yelled, cried and put on a tantrum. Your emotional sailboat capsized and it usually is very difficult at that time to regain your composure from blowing your cool.
But you learned.
Just like that novice sailor who continued to allow the inexperience of how to deal with the wind when he first indulged himself in sailing, after a time he knew from experience when to turn the sail and when to angle it just right to avoid falling into the water.
This is what we must learn to do in life as the various MAJOR HURRICANE CATEGORY WINDS swoop down on our peaceful realities.
ADJUST AND BE FLEXIBLE!
You will find that there is NOTHING to fear coming your way because if you are not the author and originator of the negative energy, it cannot attach itself to you unless you allow it! Like a prizefighter hitting nothing but air against his opponent, they will eventually tire himself out and the victory will be yours for the taking without as much as breaking a sweat or getting a scratch! When you remain positive and in the protective grip of God’s hand, you will never find yourself in a position of defeat, sometimes it may appear to be that way but hang on for the ride and let God do HIS work!
But if you find yourself tempted to play dirty and fight back under your OWN power, you have basically said to God that you are going to do this on your own and He has NO CHOICE but to release you from His grip to learn a hard lesson of who really is in charge in your life. And if truth be told, to go and engage in a “dirty” battle of negativity, realize that you have re-calibrated yourself from the positive forces of the world and have opened yourself up to the negative forces of the evil dark netherworld where ANYTHING can happen to you now!
Stay in God’s sailboat and navigate the turbulent winds easily with His all knowing guidance and you will sail smoothly and safely into your victory without EVER having to sacrifice the dignified manner in which you carry yourself across the face of the planet……know that Satan is ALWAYS out here trying to get your boat to capsize ANY way that he can but to master those winds will ALWAYS keep him under your feet as you praise your Heavenly Father!
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