Be the Ocean Behind the Wave

A note to young leaders.

In my mid-twenties, my brother Jeff and I invited a yogi master from New Delhi – Ashok Chatterjee – to spend time with us in Sydney.

For two weeks, Ashok initiated us into Raja Yoga – a meditation practice designed to awaken awareness by stilling the “monkey in the mind.”

One morning, as we sat with Ashok on the steps at Coogee Beach watching the waves roll in, he gently said:

“Think of each life as a wave in the ocean.

When the wave arises, we call it ‘a birth.’

When the wave moves across the ocean, we call it ‘a life.’

When the wave breaks on the shore, we call it ‘a death.’

But we are all ocean. There’s nothing but ocean.”

We belong to something vast and interconnected.

If there’s nothing but ocean, there’s nothing to fear.

Be bold. Let your wave unfold.