Living on an Expanded Dime

+  2 December 2009   +


The day is somewhere in between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Leftover homemade cranberry sauce still holds a presence in the refrigerator. But all other forms of recognizable Thanksgiving Day edibles are history. Culturally and mentally, we moved on to the next gig in life.


The day is also a day for a swim. I am at the pool where I provide lessons. The pool basks in the glory of the late autumn sun and in the company of the bright orange shade trees on the nearby lawn. The pool only seems to be in a state of neglect. Why? No one is around. But I am.


This is the second year in a row for me to do volunteer community service work on Christmas Day. And that is my legitimate excuse for the absence of mindful (and maybe mindless) shopping on my to-do list. If you knew me you would understand the how and the why of it all. As a consolation I go for a swim. So. Yes, obviously holiday shopping is not on my mind. Just swimming. Nothing more, nothing less. I swim for the health of the world. And mine too. In the meantime Christmas Day will take care of itself. Thus I relish the non-tinseled state of mind. I look in a different direction.


Back to the pool, no one is here except I. Physically I may be alone, but I don’t feel that way. It is late morning. The pool’s energy is invisible. As the pool’s sole inhabitant I mindfully own it. But reality says something different. What a mindset it is to have a 50 meter pool all to yourself. Once in the water my body moves. My eyes see without distraction the farthest reaches of the underwater pool environment. And my mind travels. Beyond the dimensions of 50 meters, what else lies beyond that which I can clearly see and know? The answers are wide open.


“Open up your mind” is what that 50 meter pool says to me. “OK. And may I take a few others along with me?” No traffic, no holiday carols, no cash registers, in fact its a no-nothing environment as I look underwater. The no-nothing environment is silent and its silence speaks volumes to me. The silence can also be deafening. And that is the sound of the pool’s quiet energy.


Straight as an arrow I swam my 2000 meters. Some moments my mind wandered and filled with expanded  “what if…” thoughts. And other moments my mind was self contained, focused and registered. I think its a manifestation of the efficiency of the streamlined position and stroke counting. And I know there was at least one “Ah-ha” moment. The combined power of swimming and water do all that to me all the time.


But wait, there is more that it does to me and does for me.

I can elaborate when I reach the opposite end of the swim, or the opposite end of the pool. But, by then I will not yet have realized that the pool carried me off to another destination. There is a slight pause and a “wow”.


I know, for I have been there before.