How the Ocean Taught Me to Breathe
Every night the ocean teaches me how to breathe.
Maybe you’ve been there too. The day’s worries bubble to the surface as you finally settle into bed for the night. An anxious and restless mind keeps you from the sleep you know you desperately need…which of course then also becomes part of the swirling, anxious thoughts.
But years ago, I found the secret.
Maybe you’ve known about it for years too. I wasn’t a fan or user of apps until I found the glory of “White Noise,” a free and beautiful app. Thanks to it, I am now lulled to sleep every night by the steady roll of ocean waves; the steadfast tide tumbling in and then receding out.
The beauty of this whole scenario is that if you time your breath to the rolling waves, it has a remarkable calming effect. For me, it’s been a sure-fire path to steadying my breath, calming my mind, and falling asleep.
Not a commercial
Mind you, this isn’t a commercial for the “White Noise” app, but rather testimony to the true beauty that surrounds us and enfolds us in the created order of things.
Grace has physicality.
The natural created order has a way of restoring us in magnificent ways. The Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota puts it this way, “Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.”1 Something as seemingly simple as birdsong can return our physiology to homeostasis.
Like I said, Grace has physicality.
Even in our human relationships, grace and beauty abound in so many ways. In ways that often go unnoticed. Miraculous transformation and healing can occur through seemingly simple acts of compassion and empathy. Our very physiology can be calmed and regulated by the touch or presence of an attuned friend.
There is a rhythm of grace and beauty that surrounds us, enfolds us, and is in us: in our relationships, in nature, in our bodies. Life keeps going and there is a rhythm to it all. We are sustained. And our natural environment ministers to us. To our heart. To our body.
Beauty, embodied
And, so, while brokenness surrounds us in this world, so does beauty. Worries come and certain things may fall apart, but the steadfast rhythm of grace is with us. It sustains us. And it will keep expanding.
One day, beauty will be our entire reality.
Until then, notice the ocean. Notice your heartbeat. Notice each breath. Notice how the sun rises every morning. Notice the glory of it all.
The thing is, we haven’t been taught to listen to the faithful ocean or notice our breath.
We haven’t been taught to recognize them as signs of light and life and love in the world. Instead, we have been steeped in the lessons of commercial beauty, a myopic and striving-based beauty. A societal beauty that isn’t Real and is a purposefully moving target. A beauty that that is fleeting. And, yet, it is that sort of beauty that floods our minds and hearts, billboards, and Instagram feeds all day long.
Instead, may we learn to listen to and notice the Grace that is around us and in between us; the Presence in nature and in our relationships and in our complex and beautiful bodies that sustains and integrate and calm us.
May we have new eyes to the see that true beauty is indeed in our midst, in our world, our relationships, and in our very bodies. A beauty that doesn’t judge, isn’t myopic, selective, or petty. A beauty that is true, real. Eternal. A beauty that actually means something.
To learn more about the benefits of being in nature, check out 12 Scientific Benefits of Being Outdoors.
1. “How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing?” from Taking Charge of Your Health and Wellbeing, University of Minnesota, Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing: https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/how-does-nature-impact-our-wellbeing
Are you tired of being sold a broken brand of beauty?
The brand of beauty we are so often sold as women is way too small. It divides and dis-integrates us. I am on a mission to expand and re-discover beauty, authentic beauty. I believe beauty is the life of God at work in us and among us. Will you join me in exploring that kind of beauty?
Sign up and follow along on my journey. Let’s re-define beauty. Together.