Surfers have a different relationship with the ocean than most people do. Rather than admire its beauty from the sidelines, they feed off its energy because for most of them it’s a second home. They’re more comfortable in water than on land. For the majority of surfers, it’s much more than a sport, it’s their calling in life. What can ‘silver surfers’ learn from them? NMTBP finds out:

Live in the moment, but keep your eyes on the horizon

If there’s anything that surfing really teaches you it’s how to be present. When you’re on a wave you really can’t think about anything else because if you do you’ll find yourself submerged rather quickly. But, the interesting thing is that you have to keep your eyes on the horizon and anticipate when the next wave will arrive. Life is pretty much the same. We need to live in the moment, while being mindful of our future goals and plans. But if we live too far in the future our performance in the present suffers

Embrace the unknown

Every single time you paddle for a wave you’re taking a risk because there’s no telling how it’s going to turn out. You’re either going to take a hard fall or experience the ride of your life. When you do catch that ride every sense of fear, doubt, and uncertainty disappears and you’re overcome by a sense of pure bliss that words can hardly describe. In life when when we’re willing take risks, and step into the unknown we dramatically raise our potential for the possibility of an extraordinary life. Everything you know and are confident in today was once an unknown that required a leap of faith. So embrace the unknown

Trust your instincts

Your instincts are almost always right. Instinct is something that is really hard to quantify or define. It’s something you just feel or know. If you look back over your life you’ll notice that in the moments when you trusted that feeling, you ended up in positive situations. When you go against instinct you almost ALWAYS end up in a complete mess

Bail out when you think you won’t make it

In many ways this is similar to trusting your instinct. While some might argue against this and say that failure is necessary to learn, this is more about knowing when it’s the right time to bail out. If you’re about to take the plunge into a situation and feel like you are on the brink of a severe wipeout, you’re almost always right. In life and in surfing this tends to hold true

Learn to shake the wipeouts

Sometimes despite trusting your instincts, bailing out when you think you should, and being completely in the moment, you will fail. That’s just a part of life and once you learn to realize that your failures don’t define you, but build character you can learn to shake the wipeouts

All it takes is one good wave

Talk to anybody who surfs and they’ll tell you their addiction started with that very first wave. Standing up for the first time is the hardest part of learning how to surf. But once you do, you can never get enough of that rush. Accomplishing anything in life is kind of the same. It might take a while for you to hit your stride, but once you do it will have been absolutely worth it and all it takes is one major milestone to establish your confidence and keep you pushing yourself to the next level

There’s always another wave coming

The ocean teaches you abundance because there is always another wave coming. But if you’re too caught up in the one you missed or didn’t’ catch you won’t be there to catch your wave when it arrives. People talk quite a bit about missed opportunities. When you dwell on the past and the opportunities you missed, you’ll be looking back instead of seeing the opportunity that might be right in front of you. So don’t fret when you miss your chance – hold fast to the belief that there’s always another wave coming

Nature rewards patience

When you’re in the ocean you’re on mother nature’s schedule rather than your own. You learn to be extremely patient. In life we have a tendency to want to force the order in which things happen and we end up creating the very resistance that kills our flow. When we become patient and let nature take its course we’re able to navigate the waters of life with far more ease

The ocean is an incredible teacher. According to surfers, there won’t be a single day that it doesn’t leave you humbled, grateful and slightly wiser. Just like life really!