The conditions are good. Sun is shining. Clouds float effortlessly over the greenest, most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen. Waves beat rhythmically as they roll onto shore. Breeze blows through all the lush greenery and everything slow dances to the song of the ocean. Call it perfect, these conditions. I ought to produce a lovely little piece with this landscape to inspire. But I’m discovering an unexpected and strange revelation: it’s possible to be pissed in paradise. A hammer bangs and bangs and bangs, disrupting what is supposed to be my peaceful moment. Construction on the house next door also happens to happen in paradise.
The landscapes on Kaua’i are the stuff of fairy tales. With mountains that look like dragons and giants, meandering rivers, and waterfalls big and small, one is drawn to nestle in with nature, whether it’s hiking, surfing, snorkeling, kayaking, ziplining, horseback riding or meditating in the most serene spot. This place is crazy beautiful! So crazy beautiful that it might fool you into believing that life here forever flows as easily as the water over the rocks in the river.
I steal moments of solitude here and there, but the banging continues, both in my head and next door. Anytime I fight what’s happening, the results are not good. Slowly, though, the moments open up and I receive the reminder I needed- I cannot control the river, I cannot keep it flowing perfectly, no matter how much I plan. Life isn’t always water over rocks. Mother Ocean may offer magnificent barrels for waves, but to reach them, we have to get tossed around a bit. Sometimes we’ve got to get shaken up in order to make it out to the bigger unknown awaiting us.
My attitude shifts to a new place with a new revelation that this trip has solidified. I haven’t missed out on anything. I don’t have to be in paradise to be alive. I can have the same experience in my own backyard watching the African Irises open and the crape myrtle sprout leaves. It’s not so much where I am, but how awake I am to whatever my surroundings may be.