HOW TO EXPERIENCE AN OPTIMUM SWIM WITH DOLPHINS
Dolphins love to be in bliss. they have a wonderful capacity
for sweeping peoples' hearts into places of newly experienced
joy. I thought I was a person who felt a lot of joy all my life.
However, once I experienced a swim with dolphins, bliss took on
a whole new meaning. From my encounters with dolphins I have
learned that the deepest joy can fill me from the tip of my toes
to the top of my head and deep in my heart. This kind of joy is
unconditional. It is something I bring to situations rather than
something I try to receive from situations.
Here's an analogy. If you don't give yourself water for a long
time and then wring out a towel day after day in search of
water, you get little. If you drink big cups each day, your body
feels hydrated and full of water all the time. So you don't need
to drain your water form a source that is dry. Often happiness
that is pulled form situations and circumstances is quick to
come and go. Happiness that is alive in the center of our heart
can be a consistent source of fulfillment. The dolphins have an
ability to remember this happiness at any time and can teach you
how. It is your nature to be eternally happy and you may have
forgotten. The dolphins can guide you back to this ability.
A dolphin does not teach through an intellectual conversation.
During a swim with dolphins, dolphins send out energetic
messages of joy that people feel. To prepare yourself to
receive, take a few moments in silence each day. Focus on your
heart and ask that it be an open vehicle for the deep joy
available. Some of you will feel the joy immediately and
recognize that the greatest joy does come from within.
If you do not feel this joy, here is another approach. We all
learn differently so try this way instead. Think about a time
during which you were very happy. Send a message of gratitude
from your heart out into the world about that time. Notice how
you feel now. Notice that you are feeling happy because of your
focus rather than any current circumstances. gratitude and focus
creates joy.
One of my retreat groups who attended a swim with dolphins
greeted the dolphins with great enthusiasm and many expectations
about the interactions they would have. They chased the
dolphins. The dolphins swam away. If you wanted to make a human
friend would run down the street, chase him or her and expect
that person do do as you imagined? I don't know anyone who wants
to be aggressively chased. I asked the group to practice
communicating with a horse on land that afternoon. Once, again
the group began to chase, opening the horse's gate and going
after the horse when the horse clearly wished to eat in peace. I
asked the group to leave the horse alone and redirect their
attention. I suggested that the group focus on their hearts and
on enjoying each other. They did. They became happy and Decor
the horse approached them lovingly.
When I asked the dolphin swim seminar group to practice their
communication skills with the horse, one woman began to tell
Decor a long story and Decor bobbed his head and snorted,. The
story was being told from the head. I asked the woman to be
present with her heart, and simply tell Decor what her story of
now was. She realized her story of now was simple: "I feel
gratitude. "As she spoke form her heart to Decor's, Decor came
to kiss her.
Back out in the water with the dolphins the next day these
people had a new approach. Instead of chasing they formed a
circle with each other and began to sing. The dolphins greeted
us within seconds of our departure from land. This is very rare.
Bliss fountained through and around us.
In sum, learning what the dolphins can share is very simple. It
requires a willingness to be present in your own heart. From
there, all kinds of wonderful experiences and spiritual
awakening can happen.