By the Sea

“The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.”  ― Kate Chopin, The Awakening

A quick question to ask you…. What did you do in August this year?

The summer and August especially is a time for holidays and time by the sea. For me, being by the sea has always been part of my life. I was born in a seaside town in the south-west of the England.

Note: The photo on this blog is of Paignton Pier where l lived.

As a small boy, my mum would take my younger brother and me to the seaside almost every day of the summer holidays. We would play on the beach all day. Build sandcastles. Create sea dams. Go paddling. I was not allowed to swim due to problems with my ears. We would have a picnic and by the early evening, our dad would appear, get changed and go for a swim. A wonderful time for all of us.

Fast forward to today. I no longer live near the sea. The nearest beach is over two hours away, so it is very difficult to plan the time off to be with the family at the seaside. This year for the first time ever, we went with my brother and his “crew” on holiday to the seaside. It was fantastic. The girls played on the beach. We all went swimming; paddling and walking along the beach.

It brought back some very fond memories. It also generated a number of new ones.

One difference for me this year though was the impact of my mindfulness practice on the holiday. The ability to step back and be present.  It happened on multiple occasions. I would be standing by the sea and I would become focused and fascinated by the sounds and the feel of the waves as they came onto the shore. The uniqueness of each wave. The differing ripples in the water. The sounds of the waves crashing into one another.

In fact, I even recorded a one minute video of the sea to remind me of that feeling. If you would like to listen and see the sea experience we had, plus the people laughing and joking in the background, please visit – https://youtu.be/Ge1weeFOiVY

I leave you with the following quote.

Well it’s not a quote as such. It is in fact a ditty my grandmother used to sing. 

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside

I do like to be beside the sea!

I do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom!

Where the brass bands play:

“Tiddely-om-pom-pom!”

So just let me be beside the seaside

I’ll be beside myself with glee

And there’s lots of girls beside,

I should like to be beside

Beside the seaside!

Beside the sea!

 

“I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside” is a popular British music hall song. It was written in 1907 by John A. Glover-Kind[1] and made famous by music hall singer Mark Sheridan who first recorded it.