Your guide on how to become immersed in the moment with Warm Ocean Mind
Have you ever been on vacation, perhaps floating in warm ocean water, or lounging on a deck or hammock completely relaxed? There is no separation between you and the water or the humid air or tropical plants. At this moment, you are at one with everything, in relaxed, open awareness.
Now contrast that with how we function day-to-day:
> Constantly distracted, always looking for something to keep our minds busy, keep ourselves from resting in the moment.
> Overwhelmed, busy, stressed or irritated with someone else or the current situation.
> A busy mind out of touch with our surroundings.
Does any of that sound familiar? I would argue that most of us are in a mode like this — some version of it — most of the time. While this is not every second of the day, many of our hours are distracted, busy, stressed, overwhelmed, irritated, worried, unhappy with ourselves or someone else.
What if we could turn on that vacation mind, immersed in the warm ocean in our everyday life? What would that be like? How can we get into that state? How can we get into the "warm ocean” state of mind and still get things done?
What is warm ocean mind?
Imagine for a moment that you’re floating in a warm ocean, not too deep, nothing scary, just peaceful, gently swaying ocean. The ocean is the temperature of a warm bath, and as you float there, you feel no separation between yourself and this water.
Submerged in the feeling of oneness with everything, it isn't only the water but the sand and rocks beneath you, the vast sky above you, every creature and bit of seaweed in this water with you. You’re all in this together! No longer separate. You are at home.
This is the state we were in before birth - floating in the womb without worry, at peace, and at one with our mothers and at one with the universe.
This is what our natural state feels like. We’ve been trying to get back to that wholeness ever since.
Warm Ocean Mind, then, is a state of wholeness. It’s relaxed, peaceful, open-minded, an open awareness of everything around you, a state of oneness with no separation. One field of being, as mystical as that might sound.
Getting to warm ocean mind?
Returning home to a state of wholeness is possible in everyday life, not only when floating in the beautiful ocean. You can get there by opening the mind, allowing yourself to expand your awareness from a narrow focus to a more open one. And then relax in that state of awareness.
Let's do this!
- Sit still for a minute, and let your mind become aware of the sensations around you, resting on whichever sensations you notice.
- Expand your awareness to more of your surroundings, taking in every sensation of sight, then sound, then touch that you can notice. Keep taking in more, trying to soak in everything at once. Let go of worrying about whether or not you are getting it.
- Let your awareness relax in this state of openness.
- Allow your sense of separateness to drop away. Think of yourself and everything around you as one big field of sensation and energy, one field of awareness.
- As you relax in this state of wholeness, send love to everything in full appreciation of the miracle of this moment.
You can practice this at any time, and each time you do, it will be different. Sometimes you might feel that you just didn't get it - that's OK. It's not about achieving something, it's about exploration.
Level up: Getting things done with a warm ocean mind!
Getting into this relaxed state of Warm Ocean Mind is nice, but we still have to function in the world. Right? We cannot just be at one with everything and not do the laundry, not get work done, can we? No, we have to get things done.
I don’t know of anyone who is always in this Warm Ocean Mind, all the time. Most of us are going to get into this state only sometimes. But it is possible to get things done in this state. In her book, The One Who Isn’t Busy, the late Zen teacher Darlene Cohen addresses this very topic. She calls it simultaneous inclusion. It is where we are both getting something done yet simultaneously remaining in this state of openness.
How is this possible? It takes practice, and after practicing getting into Warm Ocean Mind, you get into that state of openness. Then with this open, relaxed mind, you practice doing a task. One task at a time, being fully present as you do it.
In daily life, it might look something like this. Let's say I want to wash the dishes:
- First, I set an intention to stay in this open awareness as I do the dishes.
- Following the steps above noted earlier, I get into the state of Warm Ocean Mind - opening and relaxing into it.
- I keep the open awareness while also being aware of the movement to pick up a dish. Think of it like this - you are aware of the light in a room and aware of the sounds around you at the same time. They're both happening at once.
- When I get distracted, and my mind wanders. I keep returning to the restful, open awareness.
It’s an advanced practice, and you can be aware of a particular object or action while still keeping a wide-open awareness.
