A friend, recently told me about a perfect afternoon of swimming she had experienced.
She had travelled to "Little Bay", a beautiful small beach to the south of Sydney.
The water was "so clear"... "so still", more tranquil than it had ever been before.
Schools of fish gracefully moved in the water.
All in all the experience was amazing... so relaxing.
Reinvigorated she returned home and as is normal these days, she began to flick through her social media.
It was then that a bolt of horror struck!
There in front of her eyes was a story of a shark attack, at the beach she had just been swimming.
It was the first fatal attack in Sydney for almost sixty years.
Witnesses believed it had been a "three metre Great White Shark".
The victim had been described as the "Nicest, kindest human", he was only 35.
She began to wonder... "What if I had stayed at the beach a little longer?"... "What if it had been me?"
Tranquillity can turn to tragedy in a flicker of a moment.
We must learn to appreciate the precious time we have with each other and come to really see the beauty of the world as it truly is.
Through Meditation we can get rid of the thoughts which trouble us, the fears that follow us and the worries which distract our minds.