in your place

There are a lot of things ready to put you in your place in this world. Good job too. Everyone needs reminding, some more than others.

One of the most effective reminders of my place in the world is the ocean.

Beautiful, nurturing and giving, it welcomes every morning. It offers to take you as you are and then deliver you reborn onto the wet sand.

Always moving, always changing; the swell, the wind, the tides, the sand underneath. A constant state of flux and rhythm.

Occasionally whilst visiting you get to meet the locals. Fish dart underneath. A penguin pops up in the rip. A sea lion appears out of the fog. Dolphins show you how waves should be addressed. Even a passing humpback stops in the bay to remind you how small you really are.

Often though, all it takes is the ocean itself. It doesn’t even have to be big. Attempting to dive below, swim within, or glide on top, you are just another collection of particles in the current.

Sometimes you are granted the illusion of control but even a little wave can put you exactly where it wants.

Such a human quest to find something bigger than themselves. We will look in the strangest of places before looking at the very thing we came from.