Sailing is both peaceful and adventurous. Imagine being on a sailing boat working the sails for quiet, controlled movement or for exciting speed as you skim across the water. You can learn to work with the wind and apply it to your advantage. Anyone who tries to sail his boat willfully, contrary to the conditions of the wind gets nowhere.
A well lived life also draws on experience and we continue to learn as long as we live. Our male role models told us that masculinity meant conquering our surroundings and many of us instinctively saw competition and confrontation as a matter of personal honour. We believed that, as men, our self esteem was tied to subduing any obstacle before us. But these were a boys idea about what a man is like.
As we grow wiser and genuinely stronger we set our sails to work with the wind. We can neither stop the wind nor make it blow.
Today I will watch the winds in my life and work with them to live better.
(Reading taken from stepping stones daily meditations for men published by Hazelden meditations)
