Hello again, faithful readers,
And from here in Lower Alabama (“L.A”), we’re beginning to see what promises to be a beautiful summer! While doing a Zumba class just last night, a thought of pure inspiration struck me, and I thought I’d share it with you.
Many years back, when I was in high school, I became friends with a student (we’ll call him Brian) who had recently moved to Alabama from Hawaii. After school let out for that summer, we began to see each other every day, swimming, picnicking and riding his motorcycle.
One place we swam in regularly was an old reservoir, no longer used by the city. It was pretty deep at the bottom–about 55 feet. As time went on, going to the reservoir became more of a daily thing, and Brian opened up to me more about his life. He told me his mother had been a Hawaiian pearl diver, and had taught Brian many things about it. One thing she taught him was how to dive deeply without any breathing apparatus. The deeper you could go, she told him, the better and bigger the pearls were.
I begged Brian to teach me how to dive deeply like that, as I’d never gone deeper than, say 10-15 feet. He agreed, and for about two weeks, I was taking deep-diving breath lessons from Brian. “Here’s the trick,” he said at the beginning. “You have to practice to get your chest and abdomen muscles strong, so as to totally–and I mean totally–empty your lungs.” He explained that there were little folds in the lung tissues (I think they’re called the interstitial surfaces of your lungs), and they had to be totally empty of air, so as to let the lungs fill completely with fresh air.
This, he said, is the secret of diving deep. I tried this, and after a couple of weeks of practice, I was finally able to dive down to the bottom of the reservoir. I even made myself sit on the floor of the reservoir for a couple of seconds, before shooting myself back up to the surface.
When I surfaced, we both laughed (once I caught my breath), and Brian told me how proud he was. So was I!
Now, dear reader, you are probably wondering, “What does this have to do with me?” Well, this is what occurred to me during Zumba class. When we are attempting to overcome anything, say, a great disappointment or a wrong done to us, we can’t make any progress toward our future unless we totally let go of the past. Just like the old, stale air in my lungs, I had to get rid of it before I could achieve my goal of diving deep. So we all must get rid of old, stale thoughts, attitudes, behaviors AND grudges.
Then we can dive deeper into our lives. Because that’s where the pearls are.
Until next time, thanks for stopping in!
TJL
