Sometimes it was during the breaks that the real meditation happened - moments when it was obvious that wisdom is not something you have, but a wave-length you tune in to.

Learning to leave his mind in meditation could be compared to snorkelling, which is breathing with his face under water. Which is just wrong!
It had taken a lot of time and nagging for his brain to get used to snorkelling, for all those doubts and questions to be overcome - for him to relax and just breathe.
Learning to leave his mind in meditation was the same kind of challenge; when there was a gap in his thoughts, when a space opened up, to resist the temptation to immediately fill it up - instead for him to relax and just breathe.

He was attracted to this edge of unknowing, of hope and fear, he instinctively knew that surfing it was precondition for growth and transformation. And for feeling alive. Waking up and going out into the world not knowing what each day would hold, taking life as it comes, relinquishing any illusion of control. That's fresh, that's a good morning!

If you drive fast enough on a rough road you glide over the bumps and skim the pot holes - it's a smooth ride. If you charge without fear over boulders and beach debris it's the same as running on hard flat sand. The only problem is slowing down, or stopping.

I would have been ecstatic to play this year. And I'm disappointed that I'm not. But also, at those moments when I separate the emotion from it all, I think this is probably the right thing to do, not only for myself and my career, but also for the Vikings.

And having wisdom with each studious year, in meditation dwelt, with learning wrought, and shaped his weapon with an edge severe, sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer.