Simplification

channelled whelk

"How do I remain whole in the midst of distractions of life?  How do I remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel?  There is no easy answer.  I only have clues, shells from the sea.  The bare beauty of a channelled whelk tell me that one answer is simplification of life.  One learns from the beach how to be simple." Anne Morrow Lindbergh,  "Gift from the Sea"

La Jolla

Sandpipers

follow a trail

Grace

Laguna Beach at low tide

"But I want first of all...to be at peace with myself.  I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out (these) obligations and activities as well as I can.  I want, in fact...to live 'in grace' as much of the time as possible."
Ann Morrow Lindbergh  from "Gift from the Sea"

Kate, Laguna

sandcastle block from A Day at the Beach

Islands in a common sea

pelicans on La Jolla bluff

"How wonderful are islands!  Islands in space, like this one I have come to, ringed about by miles of water, linked by no bridges, no cables no telephones....The past and the future are cut off: only the present remains...One lives like a child or a saint in the immediacy of here and now....I feel we are all islands ----in a common sea."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh,  "Gift from the sea"

Sea lions on the beach

girl on Santa Barbara pier

Gift from the Sea- Happy New Year!!!

gifts from the sea

"One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach---waiting for  a gift from the sea.."

"But it must not be sought for- or heaven forbid! dug for.  No no dredging of the sea bottom here. That would defeat one's purpose.  The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy or too impatient.  To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed but lack of faith.  Patience, patience, patience is what the sea teaches.  Patience and faith."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh from "Gift from the Sea" written 1955

Carpinteria