I had a late meeting today from 11 to noon. At least that is late for me these days. Over the past 2 years, my company’s work force has gone from predominately West coast to India and East coast based; so I might have meetings as early as 6 AM. I’ve made this schedule work for me with late morning swim breaks. Today was more early afternoon though, which worked out well because until 11, there was no blue in the sky at all. During my meeting I watched the sky gradually morph to mostly sunny skies. I was in the car by 12:15.

I arrive at the beach and the conditions are good. The water is mostly smooth and the surf is up a bit from Wednesday. Not much visibility in the water but it’s a beautiful day here at the beach. The water temperature is very nice like it has been all week. Maybe half a degree cooler today but very very refreshing.

The swim is good. I’m trying to let my mind rest in the space where it tries to be still. I’ve been practicing meditation for years and I absolutely do not consider myself expert by any means. I view meditation as a form of mental exercise. Throughout most of our waking hours we obsess over the past and future in service of making the present something other than it is right now. That’s not always necessarily a terrible thing, but meditation is an opportunity to set aside time to separate thought from presence and recognize that what we obsess about is largely a self constructed interpretation of who we are in the world. I think that’s a pretty good muscle to regularly flex and condition. I often find that I get disoriented during meditation (and I include swimming as a form of meditation). On the one hand I am trying to remain in the present moment, but I find that I have an idea of what the present moment is and should be. As I feel the tension between the idea and the moment itself, I get this vertigo sensation. So lately I have been trying to catch that sensation - that sense of effort to get to the present that is not the present. As I feel this, I rest in that sensation of effort and allow myself to explore how it feels in my body. I don’t know - I find it helpful. It’s as though by creating space for that “trying,” the effort dissipates. This meditation reminds me that it is the energy - the feelings - that ground me to where I am more than ideas.

Anyhoo…the swim sadly comes to an end. There are three “young ladies” sunbathing right by the rock where I hid my shirt and camera; so there is a brief awkward moment where I have to excuse myself so no one thinks I am violating boundaries. I pause a moment and allow myself to feel this awkwardness. Just kidding! I don’t do that. I just grab my stuff and immensely enjoy the walk back to the car.