I know a man who is a surfer. He was in our Science of Mind class this week and he used a metaphor that I’ve been thinking about. He was talking about being in a “wipe out” when you are dragged to the bottom of the ocean and are pressed down with what feels like no escape. Many people panic and fight what is occurring, and drowning most likely will follow. However, he said in that instant if you do the opposite of what your body is urging you to do, the ocean will return you to the surface. Most importantly, stay present and stop thinking. He said even thinking uses precious oxygen and your only goal now is to conserve the little oxygen you have. Moving uses oxygen. Just relax. You will surface. The ocean will return you to the top if you just relax.

I was so moved by this accounting and the instructions because I know they relate to all of life, which was the point he was trying to make. How many times, do I fight against something that is occurring in my life, using precious mind time thinking about how it might not work out? How many times do I fester on someone or something I cannot control, instead of relaxing and opening up to Infinite Wisdom, my intuition. The Universe within me will return me to the surface of love if I just relax and allow myself to align with it. Do I stay present or do I jump back to the past, again wasting precious mind time on the things that I cannot change? Do I jump to the future that hasn’t occurred, trying to predict what will happen? Do I have a sense of just drowning in life’s challenges or do I, instead, do the opposite of what my body is screaming for me to do. Dr. Joe Dispenza would say, “the body has become the mind.” I must release my mind from my body, like training an unruly horse.

What a valuable lesson for life: stay out of the past and future, stay present, relax, stop thinking thoughts that do not serve, allow, listen and follow the messages that come from within. I will apply this powerful message to my life today. I will remember that the Universe within will always return me to the state of what I already am – Love, and Love will guide and direct me to solutions. I might not be easy to do this, but just like a surfer learns this to save his own life in a wipeout, I can become a Master of my Mind and thus my life.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author and Co-Spiritual Director Center for Spiritual Living Kaua`i.