Lessons from Surfers

 Have you ever sat on a beach and watched surfers frolicking in the waves?

The effortless beauty of surfers mesmerizes me and I can watch them for hours.

Watching surfers will teach you a huge amount about “being in the flow of life” and about how to manifest your dreams and goals effortlessly (or at least make it look effortless from the shoreline.)

“Go with the flow, dude,” is typical surfer lingo and may be construed to be a little silly or naïve but it is the KEY truth in living an effortless life.

Life works in cycles and patterns and what connects one event to the next in these cycles is energy FLOW. Consider the seasons; night and day; birth and death – these are cycles.  Consider the patterns in nature, your fingerprint, in your body, in your behaviour, in music, in the universe – these beautiful patterns that mathematics is able to eloquently capture as numbers.

And between these cycles and patterns there is flow.  Flow is the way that energy moves between these cycles and patterns.

Before a good surfer gets into the water you will notice that he sits on the beach or stands at the water’s edge and just watches the waves.  He will do this for a while and he is not just “chilling out” want he is doing is counting the waves, examining his environment and looking for the cycles and patterns in the swell and how the water flows between waves.

Once he has establishes the pattern, a good surfer will run into the water with enthusiasm, paddle out effortlessly to the back line, ducking under the waves like a seal and then once past the rollers, he sits on his board just beyond the backline and relaxes and waits for a wave to ride.

You may see some grommets (surfer lingo for novice surfers), who don’t quite understand the patterns of the waves, get pounded by the rollers as they paddle out.  They exert huge amounts of energy getting past the break, they then paddle left and right while waiting for a wave expending more energy and finally when they do take a wave, they pick the wrong one, they get munched by the white water and end up eating foam.

The pro’s know that there are sets of waves and before they get into the water they make sure that they understand the pattern, and then once in the water they “go with the flow”, they merge with the energy between the wave cycles.   They surf the right waves in the pattern and when the water is flat, they relax on their boards and chat.  It is easy, effortless and they love it.

Life mirrors surfing when it comes to flow.

When you are “in flow” you are in synchronization with the way that life energy moves – thus making things easy and effortless.  When you are in flow, you will have the feeling of being relaxed, energized, there will be a sense of luck, synchronicity and co-incidence.  When you are in flow you will have a greater ability to attract opportunities and people, you will feel inspired.  I call being in flow “the MAGIC” because there is a sense that life is magical and that the universe is conspiring deliciously with you.

When you are out of Flow – life feels like a struggle and an effort.  It feels like hard work.  You experience stress, tension, anxiety and pressure.  You may feel tires, sluggish and demotivated and it may feel like it is you against the world.    I call being out of flow “struggle and effort” because that is how it feels.

We have all had experiences in our life of “the magic” – the times when we are IN FLOW and similarly those times when we are OUT of FLOW.

So how do you ensure that you get into flow and stay in flow in your life?

Well let’s learn 6 lessons from the surfers

1. Do what you love.

Surfers love to surf and you will find the in all types of water going out to surf.  When you do what you love you will be passionate about it despite the uncontrollable, outside circumstances and influences.

It is far easier to stay in flow in your life if you are tapped into the flow of your natural passions, talents and desires.

2. Study the patterns and cycles in your life.

Just as the surfer studies the waves before jumping into the water, become aware of all your cycles and patterns and really consider and study them.  Consider your natural rhythms and then ensure that you ride those rhythms appropriately.  As an example from my own life, at around 14h30 to 15h00 I have a natural slump in energy and my motivation goes down.  This is one pattern in my life.

Another pattern is my talent flow.  I am in natural flow when I am meeting and speaking to people, it is effortless and fun for me.   So with these two patterns in mind I have structured my day so that I do my most productive “thinking work” gets done in the morning before 1pm and then I organize all of my meetings in the late afternoons, where my talent flow of dealing with people kicks in.

Other places to look at patterns and flow in your life

• What is your energy flow during the day?  When are you most energized and when are you most tired?
• What is the flow of your talent?  Which activities are easy and effortless for you?  When you do these activities it feels like playing rather than working?
• What is your energy flow during the year?  (I find that my energy decreases dramatically in the winter months and then in spring and summer my energy, motivation and inspiration spikes)
• What are your behavioural patterns?  What triggers these behavioural patterns? Which ones are in flow and which are out of flow?
• Which people in your life help you to feel “in flow” and which people take energy away from you and make you feel down, negative or out of flow?
• Which activities in your life help you to feel in flow, which activities feel “out of flow” for you?
• What are the patterns or energy of your environment?

There is a general universal flow, there is a global flow, there is a country flow and there is a city flow and an individual flow – become aware of all of these.  As an example, consider the difference in energy between New York, Johannesburg and Cape Town.  In New York the energy flow is hard, fast, adrenalised, non-stop.  In Johannesburg the flow of energy is similar to New York just not as fast. It is hard, aggressive but social and inclusive.  In Cape Town the energy flow is soft, relaxed but isolated and exclusive.

As an example when I go to the Kruger Park and into the bush, by 8pm I am exhausted and ready for bed, whereas when I m in the city I would go to bed at about 10pm – this is because the bushveld has a different rhythm and flow.

3. Ride the cycles and patterns in your life appropriately.  Adapt to the flow.

One you have become aware of the cycles and patterns in your life, then like an expert surfer know which waves to ride and which to avoid, avoid the things that make you feel out of flow and do the things and be with the people that activate flow for you.   Learn to tap into the “flow”, cycle and patterns on all levels and literally “go with the flow”.
Taking action is what allows your dreams and goals to manifest into reality.  An important component to action is your energy and flow. Action taken out of flow is pointless, it is like catching the big wave that dumps you.  Action taken in flow becomes effortless.
Taking your day’s action has to be done with today’s energy.  Yesterday’s energy may have seen you lunging on fast forward, but today you may feel more retiring, more passive. Don’t push yourself – always work with the energy that you have.  Do not try to repeat the energy of yesterday, be how you are today.
Never push your energy, as this is what leads to being out of flow and the stress, tiredness, exhaustion and illness that comes with that.

4. Look out for the signs that you are not in flow.

You will know when you are not riding the right wave, because just like a surfer you will come crashing down and find yourself gasping for breath in the white water.  The trick when you are “out of flow” is either
a.    get back to the beach and observe what the patterns and cycles are.  In other words go back to step 2 above, reflect and understand which cycles or patterns you are out of synch with.
or
b.    swim out to the back-line, relax and chill, count the waves and then jump onto the next good one.

5. If the waves are too big, don’t get into the water.

If you feel completely out of your depth in a situation, don’t jump into it and then have the waves crashing onto your head.  Instead, rather ask for help, support and training on how to ride the bigger wave.   Ask others to point out for you the patterns and cycles.  Sometimes in our own lives we can’t see the patterns because we are so “in the middle of the pattern” that we don’t even notice it.  Just as a fish doesn’t notice that it is in water.

6. Realise that you can’t always be “in-flow”

Even expert surfers have good days and bad days.  Pro’s can make a mistake and take the wrong waves and not judge correctly.  It is the same with life – being in flow 100% of the time is an ideal but it is not a reality.     The more you practice however, the better you will get just like surfing. You will be able to identify the patterns quicker, you will know how to avoid getting onto the wrong waves, you will spend more and more time in the magic of flow and when you are not in flow, you will know how to get back into flow.