Being Present – Why it is Awesome

Being Present – Why it is Awesome

Today, I’m on vacation in San Diego with my daughter, Grand Dude and his 2 sons.  We have a beach house and have been enjoying the bogey boarding and skim boarding.   The 3 teenagers haven’t had much exposure to the ocean so it has been one learning experience for them after another.  I grew up in Southern California, so I became the self-appointed tour guide.

Today, we took them to tide pools.  When I first made mention of it, needed to clarify that tide pools are not whirlpools that suck ships down in the ocean like they’ve seen in the movies.  Tide Pools are beach shoreline with the rocks that are visited at low tide.  As the tide pulls out, it leaves little pools of water that have sea creatures in them.

The kids kind of rolled back their eyes; but know just to go with the game plan since I haven’t disappointed them yet with the coastline.
We visited Cabrillo point and they were immediately captivated by all the little crabs running around.  When they saw me getting knee deep in the water and turning over rocks; they joined in.  They didn’t know why; but by now they know to follow suit and they will learn something.

Not finding much of interest, they couldn’t figure out what I was looking for.  I told them to come over and then asked for them to lift the rocks again.  I started pointing to the small mussels, abalone and sea snail on the rocks.  I then started showing them the sea grass, sea urchins and anemone.   ‘This is Awesome!’ one of them exclaimed.

When they started understanding that everything was alive around them; they started asking me a bunch of different questions about their new finds.  After a bit, we walked to other areas where the waves where majestically pounding against the rock producing BIG splashes.  We then started discussing the power of the ocean and how the tide system works; they were absolutely captivated by watching the power of waves coming in and me explaining how Mother Nature works.

Hiking along the coastline, I started discussing with them the plants and the importance of them with the eco system.  All of a sudden what seemed just scraggly bushes; they saw how everything connected together and were pointing out to me some the more rare sightings of plants and reciting the names of what I had told them.

As we returned back to the car, they were discussing their favorite parts of what we had seen.  I was thinking to myself how grateful I am to have an opportunity to share with them this day.  I taught them appreciation of the ocean; but most important I showed them that being present and being aware of what is around you at this very moment is special.  You just need to look for the majesty.

Tags: be aware, be present, live in moment