On the Beach

Cynthia — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 05:19:20 +0000

Oreo and I walk on the beach nearly every day. Rain or shine, hot or cold. Today
I bundle up with hat and gloves. The wind is kicking up loose sand, and I angle
my way toward the lighthouses. Each step takes force; I guess the wind is up to
about 15 to 20 knots. The Long Island Sound is dotted with white caps, the dry
grass whipping. Each step takes me deeper into myself and away from the details
of my life. LOA. The Law of Attraction is a concept that keeps bombarding me
from all directions. E-mails, newspapers, television, movies. What is it really?
If I think it hard enough will my thoughts create the images in my mind? Do I
literally create my own world, like Don Miguel Ruiz writes about in his book,
The Four Agreements? If we imagine ourselves as victim, it seems true that we
draw abusers to us. Some people think big, and create a world of riches. I
ponder the relationship between our thoughts and the world we then inhabit.

ocean
A bit heady for 7:30 in the morning, so I bring myself back to the beach. Be
Here Now. The sky is a brilliant blue. It changes every day, and I am always
amazed how everything transforms so completely. The sky, the conformation of the
water to the land, the objects thrown up on the land. Years ago I used to walk
the beach and all I could see was garbage. I brought plastic bags and filled
them up with trash, trash, and more trash.
As I look ahead of me I see a rainbow glint of something embedded in the sand.
As I move in closer, I see it is a chunk of coal. Just a chunk of coal. Yet, it
is an incredibly beautiful object full of rainbows. Wow. That’s symbolism for
ya. Yet real. I think about how long it took the earth to create such a powerful
object. It contains so much energy, sitting inert, yet with possibilities. But
wait, where in the world did this come from? Did it accidentally drop off of a
ship? Did it fall from a barge, or did the ship sink carrying its cargo? A lone
piece of coal. I stick it in my pocket and then a thought hits me: Was this here
all along and I never saw it? I’ve walked this beach for years and I don’t
remember ever seeing coal. It occurs to me that this may be the only piece on
the beach. Or is it? I begin to scan the sand ahead and see another piece
glinting in the sun. A mystery. I stick the second one in my pocket planning to
add it the wood burning in my fireplace later in the morning. I imagine that
that is probably the end of it. How much can there be? As I turn around to the
other side of the peninsula, facing the inlet I think that this will be the end
of discovering coal. How would it get there? If a ship on the Sound dropped its
cargo, how could it skip over on the inlet side.
No, wait. what about the Law of Attraction? If I focus on that possibility,
could I discover it? If my eyes are closed to the possibility, why then I
certainly wouldn’t see it. Right? And there it is. One, two, three and more and
more. I have no more room in my pockets. Is this some kind of joke? I roll my
eyes upward. How could such improbable objects show up on the beach? My mind
didn’t create them. I just never saw them. That’s it. They were here all along,
and I just never focused on them. There are an infinite number of objects of all
kinds of the beach. What I see depends on my focus. Trash or treasure. What do I
want to see?

Cynthia M Chase » Don Miguel Ruiz

On the Beach