Saturday night - and I find myself drawn to the computer - as I am sitting here typing I listen to the giggles and screams of grade schoolers visiting my neighbor downstairs. Such fun! Teasing her as they call her grandmother. The weather begins to change to the threat of a storm, much like last night and I wonder will we be the recipients of the storm tonight or be spared again? I am still learning how to read the weather here. In Colorado I grew up learning about the weather. It was important to know it so you weren't caught unawares and could avoid danger. At the same time it was more than just sticking your hand out to see if it got wet. It became a contemplation, a conversation, and sometimes a communion.
Even now as I type I have turned the music off that was quietly playing so I can hear the sound of the wind as it passes through the trees. The pines have a song of freshness, the cottonwoods their brittle leaves add the staccato, the poplar pulls you into its whisper as the leaves show you their underside, their willingness to be vulnerable. Some trees stand silently allowing the others their performance and then they all join together. Twirling, moving, bowing, touching each other, giving the wind freedom. Giving the wind a voice. There is the rush and the pause, the rush and the pause just before the burst. How I love the metaphor! They show me the rhythm they experience is the same as mine. Some times when I am busy being present to whatever is happening in the moment for me, my path is crossed by what I call a needling or issue. They generally appear when my ego is sparked by something it thinks needs to take center stage. Ego, as wind rushes up to my focus, rustling my calm demeanor causing me to respond. Is it a twirl and bend or is it a resistance and crack? As the tree has choices in its response to the wind, so do I. My soul has shown me that moving with the wind rather than resisting the issue creates a rhythm that allows the weather to appear and move on. Embracing the wind or moving with it allows me to decipher the essence of the issue. Am I really upset about the driver who just pulled out in front of me or is there a deeper story here? Is it only about not being seen or is there something deeper? Going deeper with my soul always takes me to the burst of release.
What else am I learning from watching the weather? Is it only about issues? What about the shared movement of the trees? For today might the metaphor be about dancing together enjoying the moment and the shared experience. How is that present in my life? The family below eating dinner and sharing tall tales of feats of courage - giggling together when caught. And myself enjoying their play and togetherness feeling their communal energy as it moves around us.
Or how about the days when it is sweltering (relatively speaking the West's version of sweltering on a scale of 1-10 in the South is a -20) but sweltering none the less. What you hope for is rain .... and when you see that there is nary a cloud within a 1000 miles ...."could we just have a breeze please?" What benefit is a breeze? It can come so slowly and then move past in a wisp. As you are sweltering with the issue at hand what benefit is it to create a breeze? Perhaps a moment to pause, feel some relief and maybe allow a new perspective. Perhaps a moment to be still and not fret. Or perhaps the realization that just the request for a breeze gave you the nudge to let go of the story.
Wind in all its forms is a change maker. The gall force winds of a hurricane don't tiptoe in, they come raging in, grabbing your attention and you know your life is about to change! But the breeze can trick you into thinking 'ah there is nothing to worry about' and within a split second you life just changed.
I love the wind