Dr. Peter J. Weiss

The weather here in Florida has been beau­ti­ful over the cou­ple of days, and I’ve been watch­ing sail­boats cruise the Indian River Lagoon near my home.

It’s been windy, but (within rea­son) the stronger the wind, the bet­ter the sail­ing.  It sure looks like they’re hav­ing a good time out there!

I remem­ber a lit­tle about the prin­ci­ples of sail­ing hav­ing learned to sail small boats as a kid.  I still find the con­cepts inter­est­ing, and I enjoy watch­ing the boats and the wind­surfers range far and wide over the water no mat­ter which direc­tion the wind is blow­ing.

They’re able to go where they want despite the wind by using the water as resis­tance to help them steer.

With a keel and rud­der, the sailor is able steer, keep the boat safe, enjoy the jour­ney, and get where she wants to go.

With­out some means of resis­tance, a sail­boat is just blown along to what­ever waits where the water ends — per­haps a sandy beach or per­haps a vicious reef.  Either way, the boat can be lost as it crashes to shore.

But with a keel and rud­der the sailor is able steer, keep the boat safe, enjoy the jour­ney, and get where she wants to go.  The abil­ity to resist the wind with the keel and the rud­der is the key to mak­ing it hap­pen.

How well do we steer our­selves on the ocean of life?

Are we able to keep our­selves safe, enjoy the jour­ney and get where we want to go?  Let’s be hon­est.  The winds of our Amer­i­can cul­ture blow straight to the reefs of ill­ness, and too many of us are just drift­ing along offer­ing no resis­tance.

Mil­lions of Amer­i­cans, liv­ing a typ­i­cal lifestyle, are blown before the wind like a crip­pled sail­boat in a storm.  They crash hard against the rocks of obe­sity, dia­betes, arthri­tis and other seri­ous dis­eases.

Unable to free them­selves from their habits, many are trapped and destroyed by the relent­less pound­ing of the wind and waves of ill­ness.

But not every­one.  Some wake up and see the dan­ger before it’s too late.  They spot the reef and decide to sail upwind to safe waters.  Some­how, they are able to resist the wind that destroys so many oth­ers.

They find and use tools that work for them as keel and rud­der.  It can be done.  It is being done.  You can do it.

Begin by under­stand­ing that just being blown by the wind of our cul­ture will destroy your health — mind body and spirit.  If you want to sur­vive and thrive, you need to sep­a­rate your­self from the pack.

Find the help you need to take a dif­fer­ent direc­tion.  Chart a course upwind, start sail­ing and enjoy the jour­ney.

You can do it!