Wisdom from the beach...
July 2008 | By:
Kyle Young
Ah, the beach. What better way to put the world in perspective than to sit and watch the waves roll in and out? Endlessly, dependably. So much larger than anything going on in my life – ever! And that’s comforting.
I look forward to my beach walks every summer. The patterns the tides sculpt in the sand are among the greatest works of art I’ve encountered. The sheer power of the water to work its way upon the land. There’s a timeless wisdom at work that is single-minded in its focus, and offers lessons for my own over-burdened multi-tasking life.

This year, as always, when I walked with the waves lapping at my ankles I couldn’t help but pick up some of the shells that I encountered along the way. I don’t know why I do this. I have bags of shells from years past sitting in boxes in my studio. Waiting. Waiting. For what, I ask? But still I pick them up as I walk, and it occurs to me that they, too, are calling out important lessons for me to learn - three I know, for sure.
Lesson 1: “The farther you go from the crowds on the beach, the bigger the shells you find.”
Wow! That IS a big one. How often, I ask myself....
(Continued)
