ALOHA Surfers,

How often are we taught to focus on our flaws and how we need to improve ourselves by making better choices?  Most of the time these improvements are to serve the needs of others.  We see ourselves as incomplete and in need of polishing for the sake of others who have told us to see ourselves in this unpolished way.  I was told by a man that I was an unpolished jewel when I was in my early twenties. I am sure the man thought he was telling me something in a way that I would benefit from his words of advice.  He only had good intentions in telling me this to motivate me to work harder.  I took his words to heart and began to focus on ways I could improve myself to be of value to both others and me.  This kind of way of viewing ourselves as an unpolished jewel who needs continuous polishing is what keeps us stuck on this ever turning wheel of self-improvement.

Look how many self-improvement books have been written and bought by people who feel the constant need to improve their way of living. They see themselves as unpolished jewels. The teaching of others tells us we need to improve ourselves for the sake of liking and possibly even loving who we are.  We live in a world that teaches us that our value is based upon our accomplishments.  We either deserve or we don’t deserve to like ourselves based upon our successes or failures.  We either deserve to have something like wealth, fame and prosperity or we don’t deserve to have them because we need more polishing.

This deserving and undeserving approach to living extends to the way we view our healing.  When I use the word healing, people often think of some physical form of healing like healing from a disease and that is certainly a possibility.  The word HEAL means to me (Holistic Energy and Laughter).  Healing comes in many forms because we are all perfectly designed in Mind, Body and Spirit.  We have been taught to believe that we deserve or don’t deserve to heal based upon our choices and actions that either promote our disease or our healing.  This kind of outside-in approach of living is what keeps us imprisoned in our identity of being a sole (stuck on limited expectations) survivor who is always in need of improvement.  We are never enough for ourselves.  We see ourselves as incomplete or unpolished.  We can never get enough shine.  We see ourselves as unpolished jewels even in our own healing.

There’s another way to view ourselves that is different from focusing on our human flaws and mistakes.  The choice available to us that most of us don’t have an awareness of is to view ourselves as perfectly designed in both our humanity and our divinity.  Most of us choose to focus on our humanity and remain stuck in our flaws.  We do have another choice and that is to see ourselves as divine.  We have free will to choose how we see ourselves as either an unpolished jewel or as a jewel that shines.

We are all perfectly designed to be both human and divine. I use the word divine, not for religious purposes as much as spiritual ones.  There is room for religion within the bigger body of water.  The bigger body of water is known as spirituality.  I can remember telling my college students that I taught that spirituality is the waterfall and that religion is the basin which the water may fall into or may spill over at the bottom of the falls.  Spirituality is overflowing and religion is the container trying to catch all of the water within it.  We are all divine in our being an overflowing waterfall that can’t be contained.  The energy of the waterfall that you and I are perfectly designed to be can’t be contained or controlled by any outside source.  We can’t be damned up by anybody.  We are abundant sources of energy that never can be depleted. We are complete already in who we are.  We are polished in our own perfect design.   We are divine.

I wanted to come up with a term that would be inclusive for all of the people I coach.  I have been in an alternative healing center in Florida for the last three years and the people there call themselves Campers.  I liked the idea of having a name for the people because the name gives them a sense of universality and togetherness in their journey of healing. There is a reason we are created to be interdependent upon one another.  We are not designed to be isolated living on our own island.  We are designed to support one another in our journey of healing.

I wanted to expand the idea of universality and Oneness.  We are on this planet together.   I came up with the term Surfers. Surfers have a surfer buddy to support and watch out for in the rip tide.   I considered other names like Seekers or Searchers.  These names are in alignment with answering the universal questions of identity and purpose of who we are and why we are here?  We all ask ourselves these questions and we may seek or search for the answers from an outside source or from a source within.  I invite the surfers to ask who they say they are?   It is our choice how we want to find answers to these questions of identity and purpose and their meaning.

What if we approached these answers from a different place other than our adult identity?  What if we approached these questions from an identity of being child-like and one who is curious about the answers? This is how I came up with the name Surfers because surfers are curious about their environment in a child-like manner.   Surfers are playful and childlike in their approach to living.  Surfer is a childlike word that encompasses all of us because we have all been children who are curious at one time or another in our lives. I can remember as a child seeing the fireflies come out at dusk and being attracted to their light.  They lit up the meadow with such radiant beauty. I wanted to chase after the fireflies and catch them and keep their shining light.  I wanted to capture their divinity. I didn’t know at the time that I was a SOUL(Soaring On Unlimited Love)  Surfer who wanted to connect with my own divinity.  I just knew I was naturally drawn to the light in my divine form of who I am.

Surfers may be described in a variety of ways  Some people are surfers who surf the waves of the ocean.  These kinds of surfers are always looking for the next wave to surf on.  They move from one wave to another with an adventurous spirit.  Many more of us today are surfers of a different kind. We are people who surf the waves of the internet.  We are checking out what is happening on social media.  We have a curiosity about what others are doing.  All of us are surfing the waves of life.  We are navigating through the ups and downs of life and making the best of the situation. Sometimes we are riding the crest of the wave and sometimes we are falling off of our boards.  It is our choice how we choose to surf and the type of energy we bring to it.  We are sole survivors when we live with anger, judgment and fear.  We are soul SOUL surfers when we choose to thrive with curiosity, compassion and love.

Another reason I chose the term Surfer is because it is a FUN word.  I love to play with words and for me FUN is (Fueling Up Now).  Surfers have fun!   Healing can be FUN if we choose to make it fun.   We heal in our childlike approach and energy of FUN when we can get out of our own fixed way we approach things as being deserving or undeserving of them.  A child doesn’t think in terms of deserving or undeserving.  A child approaches living with a worthiness to have what they want .  A child is worthy of surfing and playing without the need to earn the right to do it.  I want the surfers to have FUN as they make this choice to see themselves as SOUL Surfers.   When it comes to healing, we are worthy of healing in our identity of being a soul surfer.  We don’t deserve or not deserve to heal.  We are WORTHY of healing.

I would rather call the people I coach a name that doesn’t sound so neutral and as patients, clients or customers.  I am not a doctor, salesperson or pitching any product to sell the surfers I coach.  In fact, I am empowering the surfers I coach to be their own authority in their healing.  I want the surfers I coach to navigate their own waves for healing in their own unique way.  I often use the phrase, “ I invite you”, in my coaching sessions with surfers.   I am their guide through this journey of healing. I am the soul listener who hears what the surfer says at the surface level and what the surfer says at the soul level.   I empower the surfer to listen to their own inner voice.

We have a choice through awareness to see ourselves differently from the way we have been taught to see ourselves as sole survivors or unpolished jewels.  We can choose to remain stuck in the flaws of our humanity and remain imprisoned by them.  We also have a choice to see ourselves as SOUL Surfers who flourish in our lives, no matter what the outside circumstances may present to us.  We can choose to overcome or transcend the circumstances when we embrace our true and authentic identity as being divine. We choose to see ourselves as SOUL Surfers in our divinity.  We can demonstrate strength and resiliency through difficult times and SWAY (Sending Waves Across Universe) in our divine identity.  It is in our choice to see ourselves as soul surfers that choose to heal in the NOW.  There is only one time and place for healing to occur and that is in the present moment called NOW.  NOW is (Noticing One’s Worthiness) as a soul surfer to heal.  We heal in our divine form from the inside out and that influences our human form to heal as well.  We are both human and divine in our Oneness.  We are worthy of healing in our divine form, which is perfectly designed to include the flaws of our human form.  We choose to heal by embracing our identity of being a SOUL Surfer.

Surf’s UP (Universal Peace)