As my time in Australia draws to a close and I contemplate exchanging a Sydney summer for a UK winter, I’m wondering how to embrace the rainy season. How to adjust to a dark, cold and wet autumn that’s rapidly moving into winter without simply longing to be back in the warm sunshine.
It’s not the rain itself that I’m resisting. Give me torrential rain in a tropical climate and I’m quite happy, because I know I’ll soon be dry and warm again. But weeks of rain when it’s also cold and dark is another matter. This has led me to think about rain in more detail. How we feel about it, how we respond to it and whether we see it as a blessing or a nuisance. Also what happens when we communicate with rain – will it respond, and if not why not?
Communicating with the elements
Rain is of course the element of water, and we can communicate with all elements: rain, wind, sun, fire, air, rock, water, earth. However it seems that we most often try to communicate with the weather when we want it to change. We call forth sun when we have a picnic planned and rain when the garden is getting dry, or we ask it to go away. But the weather does not only impact us and our plans – it impacts all the lifeforms around us. It can be helpful to hold in mind these questions when when we make requests of the weather:
- Why am I asking for this change – at the personal, community and global levels?
- Is what I am asking for beneficial to the other lifeforms in this area? How will they be affected by my request?
When we ask these questions, we become clearer about our motivation. Are we asking for the good of all, or is our intention to meet our own personal needs or desires? If we are motivated for the greater good, we can include this greater need in our communication with the element of rain. We can also communicate with other elements to support our request. We might ask the wind to blow the rain clouds to a new location; or the wind to change the direction of fire.
If the latter we could shift from needing the weather to change for us, and instead we might ask…
“Can I find a way to embrace the gifts of this element and be grateful for what it provides?”.
A blessing or a nuisance?
Last weekend I was in Orange, in the central west of NSW, leading a Level Two training. On Saturday our outdoor activities didn’t even get going before we were chased indoors by a thunderstorm. Next day the ground was still too wet to sit on. However this group were very happy about that! For them it was proof that the rain had given the land a good soaking, delivering it’s much-needed life giving blessing down into the earth.
At the same time the northern hemisphere has had a very wet start to the winter season. There has been so much rain that the ground can no longer carry it away and everything gets waterlogged or flooded. The farm can’t be worked, the roads are often impassable and as a result everyone is ‘over it’.
Same rain, different responses, depending upon the need. So it’s not the rain that’s the problem. It is how we perceive the rain and its impact. The rain is simply being rain, doing its rainy thing.
“The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention but the fulfillment of its own nature, which was to fall and fall.”
Helen Garner
The joy and beauty of rain
In contemplating how to embrace ALL types of weather, especially those that can be challenging, I came across a blog celebrating the beauty of rain. The author writes…
“When I was little, if it was raining, I would get a big coat and an umbrella and find somewhere dry to sit. I would sit for hours listening to the dripping on my umbrella, almost like your own private roof. It was such a relaxing feeling. I don’t know but there is something quite magical about the rain and I love it.”
This blog reminds me that I used to love the rain when I lived in London. It felt like a blessing as it washed the city clean. Great rivers of water pouring down the drains, taking the city grime with it. It would chase most people indoors, so rainy days meant fewer people on the streets. I often felt like I had the whole city to myself.
As I write this I find myself looking forward to finding a big umbrella or wrapping up in waterproofs, and sitting outside as I embrace the sound of the rain on my own private roof. I may communicate with it while I sit, and if I do it will be to thank it for blessing us and the land with the gift of water.
If you’re curious to learn more about how to communicate with the elements, we cover this in our Level Two programme and also in the Immersion Weekend. Contact us for more information about the next dates of these courses.
Images from top:
wet pine tree: anders mellerup at unsplash; frog on a leaf: ilham hadi prayoga at unsplash; girl and dog in the rain: yao yao van as
two women sheltering under banana leaf, sasint at pixabay
