riding the waves

I read this on a teacher blog and think that it is applicable to us all with the rhythms of life we find ourselves in: 

The older I get, the more I realize the launch of the school year isn’t like being shot out of a cannon -- it’s more like a dive into the ocean. Nina Siegal explains it best:

A meditation teacher of mine once described life to me as a series of waves crashing along the shore, and we’re like people swimming in the ocean. Just when you think the water has calmed, another wave comes to crash over your head. If, every time it calms, you think, "Ah, now I can relax forever," you’ll be disappointed when the waves crash. But if you spend your life preparing for the crashing of the waves, you’ll be in a constant state of stress. The key is to remember to ride the waves; to float in the moments when the waves aren’t crashing, and to take the waves as they come.

The Germans have a word to describe that feeling of riding the waves: gelassenheit. It translates roughly to letting something be as it is, and letting go of the constant urge to fix it.  Classrooms are a lot like oceans -- sometimes the waters are calm, and some days it’s so choppy, we wonder why we’re even swimming in it. The fall is all about finding a rhythm -- not just because you don’t want to drown, but because you want to enjoy as much time as you can in the water.

pictures below from May 2016 in South Carolina : 

(how is it possible that this was 10 years ago!?!)