FLOAT!

I don't always know why I am moved to take a picture...not always in tune with the reason it appeals to me. As I flipped through some photos from this summer, I found this one and the word that rose up inside was FLOAT.

Floating... it's one of the easiest things we can do in the water which is why it is one of the first thing they teach young kids once they are comfortable in the pool.

Float, they say.  Just let your body relax, let the water hold you. Like the new swimmer, we fight it. Or I do anyway. I can do it, for a while. Flip onto my back, let the water take my weight while my eyes scan the sky or close against the brilliant sun.

Most of the time I find myself resisting the float. Even if I manage to make it onto my back, after a moment or two I start kicking; start feeling a need to direct my course or reach my destination faster.  I forget that I like the slight prickles the sun makes on my skin; forget that opening my eyes and finding that I have been magically teleported to a new place can be exciting, rewarding, inspiring.

Floating requires us to let go of all sense of control.  To trust that the water will keep us, that the current can guide us.

Floating also requires so much less energy than trying to reach a destination, yet we direct ourselves. In spite of the number of times, we reach our target only to realize it isn't nearly as interesting as we thought from across the water and we have to turn around to swim back to where we started.  Or the number of times we find that what we thought was a direct line turned out to be the long route; or even tire ourselves swimming against a current rather than patiently wait for the tide to change before heading out.

FLOAT...it's my word for the day. It's what I'm going to do more of both in the water and in my life. Laugh if you must as you motor past but I will keep floating. I may not get where I think I want to go... or get where I go very quickly. 

I may get somewhere better.