It’s funny how sometimes things can change so quickly. One day life is going along in its usual fashion and the next thing you know you turn around and wham, things are completely different.

That’s the way the beach is. Literally. One day it’s flat with little or no distinguishable features and the next day huge sand cliffs have formed and you ask yourself, how on earth did that happen?

Those cliffs in the beach are called scarps. They’re the result of rapid erosion and usually happen within one tidal cycle. Stiff winds and strong longshore currents are responsible.

  Scarps on Delray Beach, Florida.

And while they are a major change in the landscape of the beach, they also add an interesting dimension. Visually they're really cool. They travel for long distances and vary in heights. I've seen some at two to three feet tall and because of this, you really have to watch where you’re walking or you could fall off one.

The same holds true for the changes in life. It's essential to take care not to fall off the cliffs of change but at the same time we must remain mindful of the interesting dimensions the new condition brings to us.

Today I invite you to look at change in a different way. Take a moment to examine it from a different angle. It just may provide you with something really interesting to ponder, perhaps a discovery that will add to your personal evolution.

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Copyright 2009 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach
Photo credit: Diana Taylor, Delray Beach, Florida, 2008

For copy & paste:
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/glossary/l_n/longshore_current.html (longshore current, simple illustration)
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/videticp/longshore.htm (longshore & beach drift, detailed explanation)
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/CoastalHazards/Default.aspx?PageContentID=200&tabid=436 (longshore & rip currents)

Info from Florida’s Living Beaches, A guide for the curious beachcomber By Blair and Dawn Witherington