Some days just don’t go to plan, feel wrong or we are just tired and not energised enough to even appreciate the glories of the natural world around us. We are like a little working boat tethered to a wall, lying in the slack of the tide.
Sometimes it is perfect to be just that boat, still and safe, to catch our breath before the next tide.
Did you know?
It takes about six hours for a tide to go out and six hours for it to come back in – but when high tide occurs changes each day because the time between one high tide and the next is about 12.5 hours, shifting the pattern of tides throughout the month. Even living beside the sea it is easy to loose track as to what time of day the beach will be under the waves, or not.
The oceans resonate with vibrations from the moon and the sun, just as a guitar body resonates when a string is plucked. This resonance can affect the tides, more resonance makes a larger tide. George Darwin, son of the famous scientist, Charles, speculated that tidal resonance from the sun was so strong in the Earth’s early history that it threw a piece of earth out of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and into space. That piece of earth was captured by the earth’s gravitational field and became the moon. It is the moon that exerts the greatest gravitational influence on the tide.
There are about three terawatts of power in the ocean’s tides – another reason to rest on them a while – if just a little resonated through us, we would soon be up and bouncing around again!
A reflective moment
Just as the moon waxes and wanes, and the tides rise and fall we too roll up and down along our own energy waves, and sometimes we know we are ‘in a dip’, energy is depleted and we need to rest to restore in either mind, body or/and spirit. That is when I like to think of myself tethered lightly and nestled close to a harbour wall, still on the sea, but safe for a while, tied so I won’t float away into a storm or to get lost. It is a restful place, where I can rise and fall , up and down the wall as the tide lifts me and then lowers me back down. We still need to be part of every day life, busy working or going about our business, but it is good to feel that we are being supported, and carried along.
There is a time for furiously paddling our feet, driving ourselves forward, pushing against the stream or leaning into the wind to increase our advancement – but there are also time to just let the wind blow and not scoop it into our sails, a time for a rudder to be raised and not steer us in any direction at all, and a time to let ourselves be lifted and carried.
How do you feel lifted and carried? Who cradles you when you need it – it may not be a specific person, but friends, a deity, or your inner protector and your self-lover? Imagine you are the little boat. Relax as you know you are safe. Feel the tide rise you… now feel that little lift in spirit and mood, that warmth, that accompanies the thought; that is your inner smile, your inner kiss the support you need to restore.
The beach today
Revisit an October morning at the beach, and enjoy today the rhythmical rise and fall of the waves up the shingle beach as you imagine just rising and falling with each wave, safe and secure, a harbour wall around you like a grandmother’s hug on a cold day.
Marine Moments 
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