Flow Like the Ocean: A Lesson in Trusting Life's Rhythm

The day started like any other, but the lesson I learned that morning would change how I saw life forever.

I was living on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, and one of my favorite places to visit was this quiet beach tucked away behind a grove of palms. Not many people knew about it, which made it feel like my own private paradise. On this particular day, I woke up feeling unsettled. I had a decision weighing heavily on my mind—something that could shape the next few years of my life—and I couldn't shake the pressure.

I decided to head to the beach for some clarity. As soon as I stepped onto the soft sand, the world seemed to quiet down. I could hear the waves rolling in, slow and steady, like the island’s heartbeat. I sat beneath a large kiawe tree, the sun warming my skin, and I closed my eyes, trying to meditate. But the worry was still there, gnawing at me. I kept thinking, What if I make the wrong choice? What if this isn’t the right path?

As I sat there, lost in thought, an old Hawaiian fisherman walked by, carrying his net. We exchanged a nod, and he must’ve seen the struggle on my face because he stopped and sat down beside me. “You look like you’re fighting something inside,” he said in a soft voice, filled with the wisdom of the islands.

I told him about my dilemma, how I felt stuck between two choices. He smiled and looked out at the ocean. “You see the water? It never rushes. It always finds its way around the rocks, over the reefs. It flows with the current, not against it. Life is like that. When you try to force it, you end up tired and stuck. When you let go, when you trust your path, what’s meant for you will come.”

I let his words sink in as I watched the waves. And I started to understand that I had been trying too hard to control everything, to plan every outcome. But in nature, nothing is forced. The islands taught me that day how to let go and trust in life's flow.

I sat there for hours, just breathing, watching the tide come in, and with each breath, the worry began to fade. It wasn’t that I had found a sudden solution to my problem, but I no longer felt the need to. The decision would come when it was time, just like the tide always returns.

From that moment on, I’ve tried to live with that same sense of ease and alignment. Instead of pushing through life, I’ve learned to listen, to flow, to let my inner wisdom guide me like the currents of the ocean. And every time I do, the right opportunities, the right people, and the right moments seem to arrive effortlessly, just like that fisherman had said.

That day taught me to trust in my own mana, my inner energy, and to align with the natural flow of life. When you do that, life’s gifts come when they’re meant to—no force, no worry. Just peace, like the steady rhythm of the waves.