“Sand Turtles” –|– Anthony Satori

I was at the beach a few days ago, and I walked to the top of a sand dune so that I could get a more expansive view of the ocean. It was beautiful to watch, from atop this small hill, the blue waves crashing on the shore, and I breathed the salty air deeply into my lungs. After a few moments on the dune, I looked down and noticed the footprints of all the people who had been there before me. It became clear that numerous others had quite recently made this journey, possibly with a similar intention and desire, and as I stood there looking at and enjoying the beauty of the ocean, I felt a connection with all of them.

Among the footprints, a certain set stood out to my eyes. They looked like sand drawings of sea turtles. It was fun to imagine these turtles walking about, milling around my feet, enjoying the sun and the sand. And, much like when you are having a picnic and you see an ant (just one ant) and suddenly you see a hundred ants, a thousand ants, all of whom were invisible to your eyes before you saw and identified the first ant, I suddenly realized that I was essentially surrounded by literally dozens of these sand-formed sea turtles, and I was delighted. They were everywhere! A sea turtle party was happening all around me, and I had only just now noticed it.

And it was then that I realized the most surprising part of all. They were my own footprints. That’s right. My own shoes had been forming these sea turtle sculptures all around the top of the dune, dozens of them, and I had presumably been leaving them everywhere else I had been on the beach that day, as well, without even knowing it.

Where you are headed in life matters. Goals matter; destinations matter. However, as we often hear (and yet so easily lose sight of), the true quality of life really does arise from the journey. It is about being present and awake, in this moment. It is about feeling gratitude and appreciation for every good thing that exists around us, right now. And I think my experience that day at the beach helped to illustrate another way that we can make the most of our journey: that is, to be aware that we are leaving an imprint on the universe with every move that we make along the way, with every word that we speak, with every step that we take. If we walk mindfully, and choose to infuse goodness, virtue, and beauty into every day, into every interaction that we encounter, into every moment that we engage with the world around us (no matter how insignificant that engagement may seem), you may suddenly find yourself delightfully surrounded by a crowd of beautiful sea turtles of your own creation, without even realizing that you had been leaving them in your tracks all long. And you will be enheartened with the knowledge that, in some manner or another, you’ve made every place you’ve been a little bit more beautiful and meaningful, just by having been there.