Be A Shark...Emotionally That Is

I don't much care for sharks. Have never found them fascinating. Am old enough to have found myself on the BACK of the theater seat when the stupid, friggin', jagunda shark comes out of the water in Jaws. Yeah...me, screaming with every other living soul in the theater. Thanks Spielberg for ruining my beach vacation that year and for several afterward. Uh huh...yep...sharks. Dah du...dah du...du...du...du...du...du...

Even having the benefit of watching them gracefully glide through the massive tanks at the fabulous Baltimore Aquarium...I still couldn't like them. Oh, I guess I have a morbid fascination with them and, at least, a healthy respect for them. But, find them interesting? Too, I don't know, menacing...cold...calculating. Killers. Isn't that what most of us think?

Turns out, it's not true. You're more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark. Most of them are gentle and solitary. It's not like they go looking for trouble. They just want to eat and live in peace like anything else. I began learning bits of info about these animals... things like they've not changed much for 400 million years. I guess when you become the perfect package for what you're supposed to do...why change?

I also learned that many of these animals are facing extinction...can you stand it? Another animal could disappear? Why? Even if you're not a fan, why? I also learned that some of them can leap out of the water. Oh, yippee! As if they're not scary enough, now they can fly, too? Oh ma ga...

I found it fascinating when I was told that some don't have eyelids...creepy...that flat black eye just staring at you, eww! They can see color. Hmm, remember that great fuchsia colored bikini you thought would look so great when you were all tan? You might want to rethink that...

The fact is, most sharks have senses keener than ours. They actually can smell. In the water? Yep. And, their eye sight is better than a cat's. They can sense movement in the water as vibrations across their skin. Whew...the more you know, the more you have to even grudgingly admit, they're pretty impressive. And, I'm fairly certain the fact that I'm not a fan would not bother a shark, one small morsel. Poor choice of words, there.

So, why am I writing about them today? Well, it's because of one shark fact that I find pretty interesting and it's something for us to think about. It's been said that most species of shark must keep moving forward perpetually. Not stopping. Never really sleeping. It glides like a silent mystery in the water, and even with all the other remarkable things it can do...

...It can't stop moving or it will die. Drown. A fish can drown?! Who knew? Weird. Yep, keep moving or sink like a stone. Imagine having to keep moving or ceasing to be. It has to do with how the shark pulls oxygen out of the water as it passes over its gills...so, there you have it...it's gotta keep on keeping on.

I am thinking about someone who has allowed life to stop because of a significant emotional hurt. Just stopped moving on. Everything else around has. Every other person who was involved has...but she hasn't. And, now her life is a half-state. She's never really happy; never really sad. Just existing.

Don't you know people like that? They get wounded and then seem to become the wound. They are defined by their wound. Thought of as the sad person who had this or that happen to them. They allow their sadness to control them, make life small. Almost as if they take perverse pleasure in being defined as, 'tragic,' like a character in a Tolstoy novel. They're not willing to push pass the disappointment or hurt to find what else could be out there waiting.

They become someone who is satisfied with being a Victim of circumstance instead of a Crafter of Destiny. They willingly stay frozen in a bad place. They simply stop moving. And, just as the shark would if it stopped, their spirit starts to die inch by unseen inch until there's nothing...else...left.

You can try to talk with them. Try to support them; be there for them. Try to be understanding. But, after a certain point, you give up because it seems they prefer to give their life away to the hurt. What can anyone do? Nothing really; we all get to decide how we will live...or not.

The only thing we can do is learn from their example. Determine to develop the faith that everything in life, no matter how hard or painful, is crafted for our absolute growth and development as a Real Human Being. We can learn from it. Move on- perhaps slower than you did before the hurt, but resolve to keep moving. Keep swimming. Keep being. Keep living. Keep hoping. Keep trying. Keep loving yourself. Just keep going...

...and learn to trust again. Risk it. Try it. Attempt it. Give it another chance. Because life is worth it. Your growth into the Human Being you wish to be is worth it. Developing the spirit you know you are meant to be. These things are so very worth it.

If you stay still- stop swimming emotionally, it certainly will mean the death of you. Just as it means to the shark.

When it comes to your emotional life...be like the shark. Keep moving ahead. Feel your life glide over your skin as you slice through the waters away from the sadness and onto your next experience. Don't stop. Keep moving! Everything, your very life, depends on it.

Namaste' Till Next Time,
Holly
All photos courtesy of the Internet