We were in a beautiful beachfront condo. The ocean waves crashed outside in a steady rhythm just right for sleeping and soothing to walk alongside. Just looking at the waves and the distant horizon made me feel peaceful.

There is something about the ocean that puts us in a good mood. I have a friend who periodically has to travel to the beach to relax. Some health experts say that negative ions found in the air at the beach improve our health. My wife and I love walking awhile up or down the beach, noticing turtle or crab tracks, shells, seagulls, seaweed and tall grasses blowing in the wind.

While on vacation I notice things I wouldn’t at home, like the skies. At home, I miss the skies, I don’t notice them unless I consciously look up. On vacation I notice the skies, the beautiful sunrise or sunset, the cloud formations, or a cloudless blue sky.

But did you ever go on vacation and find it unsatisfying, or really awful? I have heard stories about great expectations dashed by how the day-to-day vacation turned out.

I have gone expecting to be relaxed. And I expected to be happy the whole time and having my wife be spontaneously entertaining, or at least agreeable with everything I wanted to do. Of course, she also expected me to be pleasant and agreeable with her and I am not always. Vacation sometimes flounders under the weight of too high expectations; the vision is unrealistic from the start.

I’ll tell you one thing that is the cause of this problem. I’m at the beach and it’s good but I want more. We have a nice meal and I want all of them to be this good or better. When everybody gets along, I want that to be the case all the time.

I get upset when these expectations aren’t met. And when do I have these expectations? When I am in the middle of other experiences. The problem is not being in the moment and experiencing what is happening right now.

It’s just mindless life taken along on vacation, being distracted, and thinking about the past or the future instead of living in the present moment.

I can’t stop my mind from wandering. But I can notice when I am distracted and bring myself back to now. This is a process that happens again and again if you want to be more aware of your life.

Noticing your mind has drifted off is itself awareness. Then you can bring it back by focusing on how your body feels, the feel of the air around you or sounds that you hear. At the beach you can hear the ocean waves. Listen for a few minutes to a recording I made at the beach. Listen for the details, the different sounds within the sound. Let it relax you. Perhaps you can picture yourself there!