It’s a rainy, foggy and grey day here in London. Most would say a depressing day, but that’s only the case if you associate joy with the sun and sadness with the grey. What if the grey was a sign of warmth and cosy feelings? The warm blanket feeling and hot chocolate days that helped you breath more deeply? What if the grey was a reminder that rest is required and that being is more important than doing?
We attach so much meaning to everything all the time but seldom do we pause and reflect on where that meaning came from and how it’s impacting the quality of our lives. Is it elevating us? Is it empowering us? Is it comforting us? Is it loving us? Is it helping us? Is it warning us? Is it supporting us? Is it in any shape or form serving us? Without the pause and reflection, we contract our moments away to the beliefs that we’ve been taught and never get to experience the moments of joy waiting to be embraced.
We have the opportunity to observe, unlearn, re-learn and reframe our thoughts and therefore our experiences. Perhaps that’s why those who get the horrible news that they are terminally ill report that they have gained a new perspective about life. Because they see beyond the beliefs that taint their experience and really savour the beauty life has to offer. I don’t want terrible news to be the only reason I can get to embrace the beauty of life.
So I’m taking time to observe what comes up when the sky is grey and there is rain? Am I making up stories about things that I can’t do and so therefore the day is somehow less precious than those that are sunny? Am I disappointed because my expectations haven’t been met and so now I need to make the day worse by wallowing in the fact that it isn’t ‘good enough’?
We do this with everything, with relationships, our career, our friendships, our experiences and even ourselves! Constantly telling ourselves stories about how things ‘should be’ and never pausing to ask ourselves ‘why?’. I don’t want the beliefs that I’ve automatically downloaded throughout my life to be the soundtrack to my experiences. I value freedom and realise now that to be truly free I need to go in and let go of the chains and limitations that have been forced upon me. I need to identify the stories that are not in my favour, that don’t make me the heroin and that strip me of my power.
I don’t want to give away my time on a grey day because I think that it’s miserable. A grey day will be anything that I attach to it. Reflecting now I can see that it is a type of day that humbles me. The weather isn’t some sort of terrible event, it’s mother natures way of nourishing herself and allowing herself to BE. Huh, I can sense a huge lesson there that needs reflection. Mother nature is our guardian, we need to respect and trust her intuition more than our expectations. If there is a natural event in the world then there is purpose behind it and just because we can’t see the purpose doesn’t mean we have the right to demean or dismiss it.
So, today is a grey and rainy day. Amongst this I can see that the trees are being nourished with the water they deserve and the birds are chirping in anticipation of spring and going about their day to day activities. Today is an opportunity for pause, for remembrance, for being present with the thoughts, feelings and sensations that arise. Today is a day of beauty in wonder and awe of how every day brings its own special gifts. Today is a warm blanket and hot chocolate feeling kind of day. Today, is another precious moment in our lives and that’s the only thing that is worth focusing on.
Love Always,
M
Souloom™ 