I can’t help myself.
Every twenty minutes, I pop out of my beach chair and meander into the ocean whenever my glasses fog up from the humidity or whenever I simply get too hot. I toss aside my straw hat and replace it with the baby blue baseball cap that I always wear in the water.
Surrounded by a vast sky and a turquoise expanse of ocean, I say a silent prayer:
“Give me a sign…”
Then I splash into the sea.
Suddenly, I notice hundreds of iridescent, impossibly small fish darting through the seafoam current amid a slight dusting of undulating brown seaweed on the ocean floor.
I pause to take it all in.
For quite some time, I stand quietly as the waves gently ebb and flow around me. Each fish is no longer than a couple of inches. They swim in perfect synchrony.
I am literally surrounded.
I watch in silence.
Normally, the aerial show above my head is the main event. Each day, my attention is captivated by graceful seagulls and migrating birds flying in formation across the sky.
The highlight is always the pelicans.
I delight in watching them repeatedly dive-bomb into the ocean, hurling themselves headfirst into the water in pursuit of the catch of the day.
The school of fish, however, was a quieter delight—easy to overlook if one wasn’t paying close attention.
The fish were nowhere near as dramatic as the soaring birds, yet they were equally wondrous to behold.
As I walked back to shore and settled into my beach chair, I reflected on the power of both large and small things to transform us when we take the time to notice them.
I kept thinking about those tiny fish moving together beneath the surface.
They reminded me that life’s most meaningful lessons are not always found in grand gestures or dramatic displays. Sometimes they arrive quietly, hidden in plain sight, waiting patiently for us to notice.
The soaring pelicans and migrating birds will always capture my attention, but that day it was a humble school of fish that offered the greater gift:
A reminder to slow down.
To look closely.
To remain open to wonder.
And to appreciate both the extraordinary and the ordinary moments of life.
I’m sending you strength and love.
Soaringwords is the power to heal.
