Fascination – the more
time you spend with the ocean, the more you notice things you never saw from
the shore. It’s our fascination with life and its many surprises that drives
away fear and replaces it with pure passion. Are there sharks that close to the
shore? How does the board turn? How do you barrel? The exhilaration of life and
truly living leads us to go out and experience. Sometimes it’s just the
questions that are complicated and the answers simple. Life, like the waves, is
full of surprises.
Perseverance – sometimes there are
no waves and nothing to surf, sometimes there are too many to catch! Life is
about moving elsewhere to find a better swell, or sometimes just taking random
opportunities as they come. Nevertheless we don’t stop surfing; we don’t stop
living.
Respect – such a
misunderstood word, and no, its “not in-you-face” ghetto type of respect.
Respect for the ocean and Mother Nature should be a core value each passionate
surfer holds. You need to deeply treasure and admire the force of nature which
enables you to practise your passion with grace and flair. Also, holding
respect for the fact you are co-existing in an aquatic habitat full of precious
life forms is paramount. Similarly in life, we need to respect the environment
and people around us. If you give respect, in a true and deep manner, then
receiving respect is reciprocal. Life is a journey and we need to respect the
time and space we are present in, in order to move forward with our destinies.
Commitment – it’s all
too easy believe you are a pro surfer after your first lesson, in which the
instructor prompts you when to paddle and stand up. Surfing like life, takes
commitment. A commitment to experiencing it for better and for worse; during
big swells and not so big swells. But we surfers, soldier on, believing we are
a part of something greater, something wonderful; and experiencing this when we
meet our match on a wave.
Love – If you
commit to and persevere through all the seaweed, tides, swells, rips and random
fin sightings, you will arrive at only one conclusion; “I’m in love with
surfing.” Yes love, like with all great things, fits nicely with surfing. But
to encounter a deeper sense of all-encompassing love and appreciation for the
environment, world, universe and Spirit…this only comes through the experience
and practise of surfing. Love is usually found in the most profound things, and
surfing (even in shallow tides) is deep. Ocean deep.
Love is the experience we all want to partake in and feeling one with
a powerful force and harnessing it to create greater good; that is love in its
purest form.
