For the past ten years, attending the Las Olas Surfing for Women in Puerta Vallarta was at the very top of my bucket list. But I kept finding excuses not to take the leap: it’s too expensive, I can’t take off work, I don’t want to go alone and none of my friends want to go. Fast forward to 2024, I had just recently lost my job, and I was in a very transitional mindset. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next, but I knew I needed time to unwind from the corporate mindset and recover from a decade of constant travel and high levels of stress. My thoughts wandered back to surf camp, but the same excuses came along with it. Finally, after ample encouragement from my wonderful husband, I booked the trip.
Just before leaving, a friend of mine raved about an online course he took with William Whitecloud, author of The Magician’s Way. Always down for a good book, I ordered a copy started reading it on the plane to Mexico.
A quick synopsis for those of you who haven’t read it: The main character, Mark, is besieged by financial and marital turmoil when he meets a group of contemporary alchemists. They guide him on an astonishing journey and teach him to transform difficult situations into golden opportunities. One of the alchemists convinces Mark to take a golf lesson, and the golf pro teaches him about the “swing circle” which encompasses their grip, their feet placement, their balance, their swing, etc. Oftentimes golfers focus too much on their swing circle—worrying more about HOW to hit the ball versus envisioning where they want to the ball to go. There’s a powerful metaphor in there, but it wasn’t until surf camp that I was able to apply it in real time.
To my surprise, on my very first surf on the first day, I popped right up on the board. But after a few falls, I got in my head—in the swing circle—and all I could think about was the technique our instructors taught the first thirty minutes of the day. Where do my hands go? Am I tangled in the ankle strap? Which foot goes forward, and which foot moves back? How do I balance? How am I going to explain to my family that I wasted all this money and didn’t surf? And on, and on, and on. I didn’t get up a single time the rest of the day no matter how hard I tried, heading back to my room exhausted and somewhat defeated.
That night, it stormed like crazy, so the waves on day two were HUGE. Just swimming out far enough to where you could catch a wave was a thirty-minute battle with the sea, which meant lots of turtle rolling (embed link here). We were experiencing five to seven foot tall waves, and no novice was getting up on those. By the end of the day, I had a smattering of new bruises from the beatdown the waves gave me, and I was convinced I was never going to surf.
Going into the third day, the weather was perfect and the sea was calm, but my mindset was anything but. I was stuck in the swing circle, but then an instructor in the water said, “Don’t try for every wave; wait for your wave.”
I remembered a quote from The Magician’s Way: “Acknowledge you don’t believe you can do it. You have no confidence in your natural ability, so you come back to the swing circle. Once you acknowledge that you don’t believe you can do it, your mind doesn’t have to spend energy coping with your negative belief. Your attention can move on from the swing circle and you can concentrate on your outcome again.”
I sat patiently on my board enjoying the sea and the sky and waiting for my wave while envisioning my outcome. I decided I just did not care about anything but enjoying a day at sea. But then I saw it, and the instructor yelled “Melissa that’s your wave!” I didn’t think. I didn’t worry about form. I didn’t worry about getting hurt. I just focused on catching the wave and surfing all the way to the beach. And I did. Over and over and over all day and the next day.
Letting go of expectations, limitations, doubts, worry, fear and frankly, what other people think about you is liberating and helps you achieve your predetermined outcome. No envisioned outcome? No success.
I’ve honed this process into a few simple steps to make it easy to focus on your outcome and tap into your superconscious to change the belief systems that limit you. More on that to come.
Oh, and by the way, what other people think about you is none of your business. And as soon as you figure that out, you will be free. More on this in my next post.