Transitions

There is an expression, ‘If you’re lucky enough to live near the water, you’re lucky enough.’  The energy is different there and everything changes once you step over the sand dunes and catch sight of the sea. Maybe it’s the sheer vastness of the panorama that puts life in perspective.  All those compartments and containers where we store our tasks and responsibilities somehow feel out of place at the beach.  Like street clothes and shoes, it’s best to leave them behind.

During a recent walk along the beach, I noticed who gathered at the water’s edge.  It seems inhibitions fall away in this area of transition from warm sand to cool water and the people who linger there are the very young and old.  Small children play in the shallow water, digging, building and splashing always with their feet planted on terra firma.  Elders stroll or sit along the water’s edge, seemingly with one foot in the future and one in the past. Rules are relaxed and judgment suspended as if things are exactly as they should be. Beginnings, endings and transitions are the gifts of water.

In Chinese Five Element theory, water is linked to teaching, transportation, communication and life path.  Its nature is adaptable and its movement circuitous, so it’s no accident that Feng Shui links water with career and our journey in life.  Water can be contained but not controlled.  In its natural form, it needs room to gather, change direction and flow.   There is no clearer metaphor for life than the ebb and flow of water at the edge of the sea. While pondering your transitions this summer, it might be helpful to spend a day near the water. Keep in mind that rivers, lakes, oceans and streams originated somewhere else and won’t return again.  Tomorrow’s water brings new ideas, challenges and opportunities – and perhaps the courage to dive in.

Wishing you good ch’i,

Diane Gallin, CFSC

Wind and Water Feng Shui Consulting