The only thing worse than an entire month of rain is listening to people complain about it. Here in the Northeast, we've been experiencing several weeks without sunshine. I've come to expect that the first words out of anyone's mouth these days is a negative commment about the weather.
Even though I'm a devout sun worshipper, I'd like to play devil's advocate here.
Is it the rain that's a downer, or is it our attitudes about the rain? If we dug just below the surface of our discontent, we would see the gifts in the rain - that our flowers and grass are sporting a happy, colorful glow instead of the parched one they normally show by mid-summer. Or we might see how creative and productive and 'together' our families can be indoors when the sun is not calling us out.
Why is it that we have to dig for the treasures in what we have deemed 'adverse weather'? Because we've been conditioned to a default setting of complaining. Years ago I greeted a new friend with a negative observation about the weather. This older and wiser friend replied, "I've learned not to let the weather affect my mood." Wow! It had never occurred to me that it was possible to be cheery about rain. I had let myself form a belief based on popular sentiment.
Why not buck the trend? Try to see the gifts in a weather pattern, an experience, a person, that you would normally bristle about. As you practice accepting what is and embracing it's gifts, you will automatically change your default setting to one of joy no matter what.
Try singing in the rain like Gene Kelly and feel "happy again." What a glorious feeling.
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/singinintherain/singinintherain.htm
Showing posts with label choices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choices. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April Fool's
Living with a husband who is a life-long prankster and also 3 young children eager to learn tricks of the trade, April Fool's Day ranks right up there with the other major holdiays for my family. Walking through this day is like walking through a mine field - I never know what trick will be afoot next. Life can be unpredictable enough without April Fool's Day to contend with.
Before 8 a.m. I had witnessed an older sibling drink (and spit out all over the table) water that my five year old had salted. At the same time, the same 5 year old was on a frustrating search for her clothes that had been removed from her closet. My shower was delayed while I searched for soap that had been hidden. And I laughed as I watched another child attempt to lift her backpack that had been loaded with 10 pounds of extra weight.
My older two children, having been apprenticed by their father - the master jokester - for over 10 years, are particularly savy with their tricks. Not to mention that they are hip to outside resources now. I was ready for the usual books in the pillow, and traps on the toilet, but the new one hit me hard. At 2 a.m., an unfamiliar alarm went off at full volume under my bed; an alarm that I had bought for my slow-to-get-up daughter years ago - an alarm that will not turn off unless you retrieve the pinwheel piece that flies off. (Payback is tough.)
As a woman who values sleep above many things, my immediate reaction was an urge to be angry. But as I jumped out of bed cursing, I heard my husband chuckle and say, "Good one!" Instantly, my perspective shifted. The same trick had befallen both of us. We had many choices in our reactions. I chose anger; he chose humor.
And so it is with all of life. The choice is always ours. At any moment we can choose differently. We can choose to find the humor in the mundande, the serious, and even the painful. Humor is always there for us, waving it's hand like an impatient child saying, "Pick me, pick me!"
Before 8 a.m. I had witnessed an older sibling drink (and spit out all over the table) water that my five year old had salted. At the same time, the same 5 year old was on a frustrating search for her clothes that had been removed from her closet. My shower was delayed while I searched for soap that had been hidden. And I laughed as I watched another child attempt to lift her backpack that had been loaded with 10 pounds of extra weight.
My older two children, having been apprenticed by their father - the master jokester - for over 10 years, are particularly savy with their tricks. Not to mention that they are hip to outside resources now. I was ready for the usual books in the pillow, and traps on the toilet, but the new one hit me hard. At 2 a.m., an unfamiliar alarm went off at full volume under my bed; an alarm that I had bought for my slow-to-get-up daughter years ago - an alarm that will not turn off unless you retrieve the pinwheel piece that flies off. (Payback is tough.)
As a woman who values sleep above many things, my immediate reaction was an urge to be angry. But as I jumped out of bed cursing, I heard my husband chuckle and say, "Good one!" Instantly, my perspective shifted. The same trick had befallen both of us. We had many choices in our reactions. I chose anger; he chose humor.
And so it is with all of life. The choice is always ours. At any moment we can choose differently. We can choose to find the humor in the mundande, the serious, and even the painful. Humor is always there for us, waving it's hand like an impatient child saying, "Pick me, pick me!"
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