Day 1: Sunday , the first sunrise we saw at Costa Rica
Surfing is one of the hardest sport to try. It is fascinating how parallels can be drawn between being successful in Life and being successful in Surfing. Many virtues essential for living a good life are also needed to being good at the Surfing sport.
Patience: It's a very hard sport to learn and could even be considered as a sport that would take a lifetime to learn. Ie. The level of pro cannot be reached within a set time limit unlike other sports.
The more you surf, there is always something new to learn depending on the tide we encounter.
Perseverance: Every body who tries to surf would fall the first time and umpteen times over. The ratio of successful surf could even be as bad as Thomas Edison's route to electricity discovery. i.e.: falling 1000 times and riding the wave succesfully just one time
Opportunity: Part of the trick to successfully surfing is to wait patiently for the opportune/right wave to take the leap and attempt to surf without falling.
Growth: The "right" wave could be compared to life's challenges or problems one can attempt to take or solve depending on one's maturity level. ie. An experienced surfer can leap on the big tides whereas a beginner would patiently wait for the smaller tides.
Courage/ Ability to fight fears: The tides can be dawnting. Especially for a beginner who is not very familiar with swimming in the ocean. Part of the trick to success at learning to surf is to be unafraid/ avoid negative emotions such as fear of the rising tides/ fear of the unknown and taking the leap with mere trust in self.
Practical experience: No amount of reading alone would help one get good at surfing. No amount of training/ core conditioning/ practicing paddling on the board outside water would help as much as actually diving into the water with the board. The only way to successful surfing (just like life) is to actually take the plunge and DO it.
Risk: A high risk sport. Can fall off the board and sprain an ankle/ knee. The board can hit your head/cut your face. If the waters are too rough/ if we are in too deep we may even drown.
Luck: Somedays the weather may just be plain bad with lot of high tides. This could even make it not possible to surf for the day/days in a row. Similar to life as to how we never know for sure if we will be alive the next day to get a chance to play the game of life :)!
It is definitely not easy to understanding these realities , to accept them and keep going on and on !
But the reward, the sweet reward of doing so ................................
.........................is to discover your capability to Surf for Life ;).
On popular request am writing this real quick prelude post on my recent Costa Rican volunteering trip.
The trip has been the "Week of my Life" trip till date for several reasons which I will pen down in future posts soon.
However, the top most reason for me to make such a statement is mainly attributed to the wisdom/experience I feel like I gained from the trip. This below picture rightly summarizes the wisdom I gained from this memorable volunteering trip.
Wisdom from a Costa Rican Tree
Recapturing these above pearls of wisdom in case the lettering is not clear in the picture for chance blog readers !
Stand tall and proud
Sink your roots into the earth
Be content with your natural beauty
Go out on a limb
Drink plenty of water
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!
And yea, the reason for such a short prelude post about such a super hyped trip that totally psyched me?
Hmm .. have 'nt you read about the profound statement made by great Shakespeare in Hamlet ~ one of the most powerful ancient plays?
Well it goes something like this, and guess it makes a lot of sense too ;)
...................................................................Brevity is the Soul of Wit !!
International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated today on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements.
Watching this below video today in particular inspired me to write in this post in a spirit of remembering Women's day. This is one of those rare videos where am able to completely relate to each and every word of the speaker.
These below words in particular caught my attention!
Embrace your inner girl! Embrace the Girl Cell which is a composition of compassion, empathy, passion, vulnerability, openness, intensity, intuition which is essential to balance, wisdom , which is in all of us, which is the future of all of us. Indeed compassion informs wisdom, Vulnerability is our greatest strength and Emotions have inherent logic which lead to radical appropriate saving action. Capacity for girls to overcome situations and to move on levels is mind blowing! Being a girl is indeed so powerful!
I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE
I love being a girl.
I can feel what you're feeling
as you're feeling it inside the feeling before.
I am an emotional creature.
Things do not come to me
as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas.
They pulse through my organs and legs
and burn up my ears.
I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off
even though she appears to give you what you want.
I know when a storm is coming.
I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air.
I can tell you he won't call back.
It's a vibe I share.
I am an emotional creature.
I love that I do not take things lightly.
Everything is intense to me.
The way I walk in the street.
The way my mother wakes me up.
The way I hear bad news.
The way it's unbearable when I lose.
I am an emotional creature.
I am connected to everything and everyone.
I was born like that.
Don't you dare say all negative that it's a teenage thing or it's only only because I'm a girl.
These feelings make me better.
They make me ready.
They make me present.
They make me strong.
I am an emotional creature.
There is a particular way of knowing.
It's like the older women somehow forgot.
I rejoice that it's still in my body.
I know when the coconut's about to fall.
I know that we've pushed the earth too far.
I know my father isn't coming back.
That no one's prepared for the fire.
I know that lipstick means more than show.
I know that boys feel super-insecure
and so-called terrorists are made, not born.
I know that one kiss can take away all my decision-making ability
and sometimes, you know, it should.
This is not extreme.
It's a girl thing.
What we would all be if the big door inside us flew open.
Don't tell me not to cry.
To calm it down
Not to be so extreme
To be reasonable.
I am an emotional creature.
It's how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don't tell the Atlantic ocean to behave.
I am an emotional creature.
Why would you want to shut me down or turn me off?
I am your remaining memory.
I am connecting you to your source.
Nothing's been diluted.
Nothing's leaked out.
I can take you back.
I love that I can feel the inside of the feelings in you,
even if it stops my life
even if it hurts too much
or takes me off track
even if it breaks my heart.
It makes me responsible.
I am an emotional
I am an emotional, devotional,
incandotional, creature.
And I love, hear me,
love love love being a girl.
So true! Very well said Eve Ensler!
These below thoughts raced across my mind as I watched this video in total agreement. Well I am not afraid anymore to openly admit that there has been those
Days where I had not been comfortable with my emotionality.
Days when my tears were washed away in restroom waters or wiped away secretly in my pillow at bedtime.
Days were I wished I was little more light hearted like I was told or expected to be.
Days were I hoped that I could have cried little less and perhaps saved some energy over every real and imagined problem/hurt.
Days that made me wonder what is all this intuition, passion, openness, intensity, empathy, compassion, vulnerability within me for.
Am sure every girl out there would agree with me (atleast to some extent) on these above thoughts. But over these years as I travel a bit and see reality around me, listen to some heart wrenching stories of people around me and watch inspiring videos like the above one, am indeed amazed at my ability to feel what other people feel whether or not I have directly experienced the same emotions. Am realizing these very qualities of a real girl are indeed her source of strength and not something to be embarrassed about.
Am glad have finally moved over my fears and am willingly admitting embracing the Girl Cells within me.
Yes, This is indeed what makes
the REAL ME !
Every girl a REAL GIRL! and ....
Every human being a REAL HUMAN BEING!
In fact, having tasted it's power I feel like going one step further now. I feel like nurturing these cells and hope they thrive and grow to become my entire being, nay the entire cosmos as opposed to just being a single chip/ cell within me :)!
This realization has indeed made me Awaken from the delusional expectation that some outside entity might come to turn every tear of mine into a smile or every dream of mine into reality.
Must say, I value each and every tear drop I have had to shed in my life so far as much as I cherish the moments of laughter in my life. I understand it might be weird or frightening to value/cherish tear drops just as much as laughter. But the reward, the sweet reward of doing so ................................
.........................is to discover your capability to convert every tear drop into a waterfall ;).
This one is for all those girls out there who have not realized the power of embracing their Girl Cells.
This one is for the few good men out there who have their inner Girl Cells activated.
This one is in the hope that every chance blog reader realizes the importance of nurturing their inner Girl Cells just like I did :).
Being a girl is indeed great since I know for sure that I can get away by writing such an honest open emotional post. In fact I may even be more appreciated than ridiculed by society for being open and emotional as opposed to these coming from a guy ;)
And yea, a real girl knows that this one kiss can take away all her decision making capability and like Eve Ensler says it probably should! ;)
.........................is to discover your capability to Surf for Life ;). 
