Horizon’s Calm

Regardless of the calamity crashing onto the shore, the horizon always seems calm.

The headlines confronting us every day are inescapable. World events spill into ordinary life with reckless abandon. Add our own worries, obligations, and frustrations, and it becomes easy to feel that everything is happening at once—and that we control almost none of it.

So we put our heads down to focus on every step we take, and that is all we think we control.

We watch for the exposed rocks, the tidal pools, and the creeping surge of the surf. We concentrate so intently on keeping our feet dry that we miss the gulls skimming the waves, the eagles soaring overhead, the pelican’s wonderfully gangly dive, and, if we look further out, maybe, just maybe, a breaching whale.

Most of all, we miss the horizon. We don’t even look up, out of fear.

Trauma, conflict, and drama lie at our feet. Some of it is real and deserves our attention. The waves may indeed be growing larger. We should not pretend otherwise. But the closer we stand to the crashing surf, the more each wave can consume us.

Our breathing shortens. Frustration rises. Helplessness creeps in. Eventually, the thing directly in front of us begins to feel like the whole world. But it rarely is, and it rarely is as big as it appears.

Lift your head and look beyond the wave breaking at your feet. The horizon offers perspective—not because it promises everything will be fine, but because it reminds us that this moment, however difficult, is only part of a much larger landscape.

Today matters. What is crashing around us matters. But neither is everything.

That doesn’t mean ignoring the surf. Brace for what may come. Watch for the sneaker wave. Step back when wisdom and experience tell you to. Deal with the rocks beneath your feet. But we do not have to fight every wave or avoid every stone.

Perhaps calm begins with remembering the difference between what demands our focused attention and what deserves our entire field of vision. The shore may be chaotic, noisy, even frightening. So look up. Look beyond the breaking waves and see that the horizon remains calm; so should we.

Look up Horizon

Calamitous shore waves break

Horizon placid

NeverFearTheDream…W. C. Barron…simplebender.com

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