Guess what, it rained again today. Oh really, it rained... color me NOT surprised! Well, this is becoming an all too common occurrence. Yesterday the sun made an appearance. What you say, the sun after weeks of mostly gloom, FINALLY came out for an entire day? Well, hallelujah! It didn’t hide behind the clouds or go running, screaming from approaching ominous storm clouds. What a difference a sunny day makes in people’s moods. Did you ever notice that? Everyone at work was walking around smiling and laughing more too. My mood was upbeat all day. Only people's unwarranted negative comments could bring me down, but not for long. I don’t think most people notice or even realize just how much ours moods are affected by things like sunny days, storms and other people's attitudes toward us.
Luckily, I am usually an up beat person. I love to laugh. I am learning how not to let people bring me down. It's a lot of work, but I am slowly improving my reactions. I have a lifetime of behavior to change. My mood doesn't stay down long though! I meditate on my reactions, and I try to learn more about why I respond the ways I do. Then I consciously attempt to correct it in my life. Life is a learning process. Meditation helps to bring things into awareness without judging them. Then you can observe it and strive to not feel those feeling again. It takes time and practice, but you will begin to see a difference.
Some people love rain storms and thunder, others are afraid of them. I like rains storms, but not if it rains too hard, like it has been lately. I don’t like thunderstorms very much. I like a rainstorm or rain shower now and then. I have sat meditating during some intense rain storms though. They seem to enhance my mediation, rather than distract me. The sound of the rain beating down on the roof in a steady thumpda, thumpda, thumpda is very regular, rhythmic and soothing. It helps to induce a meditative state. It’s a repetitious sound that creates a pattern. A meditative mind will use that pattern to help induce the meditative state.
I find that storms enhance my meditative state, more than anything else. I seem to meditate much longer during a rainstorm. If I didn’t use a timer, I would sit be sitting there in meditation for who knows how long! Probably until my legs got stuck in a crossed leg position or went to sleep. Then someone would have to pick me up by my arms and carry me or drag me out of it! But it would take a really long time for that to happen, because I sit on cushions that are pretty comfortable. When I sit for a really long time, my legs get a little stiff when I first get up. I might walk like I’m a hundred years old, but I can get up and walk!
What better time to write about this, than in the time of renewal and rebirth.
