Happy World Oceans’ Day! There is nothing as so soothing and scary as the waves of the ocean. They can calm us down with their soft sound, and they can swallow us whole.

The big blue body of water has enthralled humans for centuries. Both Hawaiians and Vikings have canoed across the oceans, while the Spanish and Portuguese wayfarers have built bridges through their discoveries of new land. And of course, since our human bodies are made of approximately 60% of water, this our most essential element, besides oxygen through the air we breathe, is necessary for our survival. So, let’s start with our water intake: How much water do you drink every day and is it enough? I like mine filtered and try to drink more than half a gallon every day, depending on what else I drink in terms of fruit juices and herbal teas, and whether I worked out or not. That means two liters is my goal. And since I take medicine that is dehydrating, I ensure to add some electrolytes a couple of times per week. 

All continents on Earth are connected through the oceans and the seas and sounds. At least theoretically, this means, that one drop of water, could have travelled around the world before it reached you! 

The ocean is always in motion. Whether with small undercurrents or through stormy seas, you can be sure there’s always going to be motion. This in turn enables a thriving world underneath the surface, where corals and fish develop their own habitat. All now more vulnerable through the impact of us humans littering and spilling various type of waste. Why does some people do that? Would you want trash to be piled up in your bathtub? Luckily, more and more people also become more aware, so let’s increase our care together, to keep it clean. 

Since I almost drowned as a little girl, and both my parents don’t like swimming (and my mother couldn’t at all), I have had a great fear of water for most of my life. I still have a problem to be in the vast open, or even in the middle of pool, where I easily can become panicked. But… I have also practiced and overcome some! I managed to put my head under water for the first time as an adult in 2015, when I was on a vacation in Estoril, Portugal. I dipped myself both in the pool where the spa was, I had gone to, and in the ocean. The liberating sense of victory afterwards was priceless and became joy several times, years later when I returned to Portugal. Little, by little, I became more used to being by the ocean, picking seashells, or just noticing how the tide had changed. I even got to see dolphins a couple of times from a far. It was in one of these afternoons, in Estoril, that I saw a couple of sardines swimming around my legs and when immersing myself fully, I almost felt weightless, like I was completely one with the ocean! Have you ever experienced that? What if, we decided to see the water as our conductor of connection, between all of us humans and all life? Even if we have separate bodies, we’re still pretty much made the same. I like to remind us of, that we should focus on what we have in common instead of what always sets us apart. Whether that is something we both like, or dislike, or a place we both have visited or lived in, we can always find something in common. The sooner we do this jointly, the sooner our fears of the other will lessen in favor of curiosity and willingness to become good neighbors instead. So, like the oceans: What do you have in common with the next person you meet?

Understanding the importance of the oceans, is something I became more aware of when I lived in Hawai’i. I’ll never forget that time when I was taking a private Hula class at the premises of University of Hawaii in an old classroom and saw a map hanging down by the blackboard. It didn’t show Europe at all and almost nothing of neither Asia, nor US mainland except for the Westcoast, but the island chain in the center of the map with lots and lots of ocean around it. It was then and there in 2005, I finally began to grasp how I had gotten to see the other side of the globe, literally. It changed my whole perspective, not only geographically speaking, but also culturally. 

If you had the opportunity to travel anywhere, where would you go? Take a minute and allow yourself to look it up online and let yourself imagine how it would be like. Which ocean would you have to cross? And how would you look at your current country from that perspective?

To listen to this blogpost as a podcast, find The Source Podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube. Photo from Portugal 2020.