Current

Written By Diana Hill

When I was a little girl, my mom used to warn me about the undertow. Yes, spelled that way in my mind, because I had a vision that something under there would grab me by the toes and carry me under.

But what lifeguards worry about isn't you being pulled under. It's you being pulled out. Pulled out to sea so far you don't even know it, until the moment you realize, and you start swimming against the current. You swim so hard you exhaust yourself. And possibly drown. More than 80% of ocean rescues at surf beaches are because of currents.

Want to watch the video of Diana Hill’s live Sangha talk?

Join Diana’s FREE Community Circle to get all of Diana’s live talks and meditations on demand.

Learn more
Woman seated on the floor beside a singing bowl and sunflowers, with a CURRENT notepad listing five steps behind her.

When people come to work with me, they're often caught in one of these undertows. They've been pulled out to sea:

  • In their marriage. Where did she go?

  • In their work. How did I get here? Where am I going?

  • From themselves. Where is the shoreline of who I am, what I care about, my relationship with myself?

They've lost their way.

So if the advice isn't to fight the current, what can we do instead?

I did a little research into rip currents and found two recommendations:

  1. Float. If you float long enough, you may find you drift right back to shore. (Marriages sometimes do this. So does grief. Just float a while, and you'll find your way.)

  2. Find the shoreline and swim parallel to it. You may not get back to shore right away, but you won't go further out. And eventually, you just may be rescued.

This week's word, current, comes from following a shoreline of my own: the poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Rosemerry has known grief, and I've been swimming alongside her for the past two years as I lost my way, in the undertow of grief, loss, confusion, and busyness. And every time I read her poetry, I saw the shoreline. A home I can trust: in nature, in community, and in myself.

Currents are strong.

  • Within us, the current of thoughts and emotions can pull us far out if left unchecked.

  • Between us, the currents of greed, envy, and misunderstanding can leave us distant from what's true.

  • Collectively, we're in a current of fear and disconnection, and we've often lost the ability to float in what is good and here.

If you find yourself out to sea, I recommend this week's Sangha talk and meditation. It's about currents: the undertows, the eddies we get stuck in, and how to find our way into a bigger current, one of wonder and presence. Because we are not doomed. We just need to enter the bigger current.

Sources

Diana Hill
Next

Self-Doubt