Weather Patterns

As I gaze out at the rainstorm currently engulfing San Francisco, I’m observing the changing weather in my mind as well. Much like the conditions outside my window, my internal state is multidimensional. I’m neither happy nor sad, neither sun-baked nor rain-soaked, but instead experiencing deeper complexity. Feeling the rain on my face, while admiring a rainbow in the distance. Noticing a few clouds clearing, but still keeping my wet weather gear close at hand.

I certainly can’t control the weather, nor can I fully understand the causality that drives it, but I can use careful observation as a tool for intentional development. As a meteorologist studying my own mind, I recognize that the conditions observed from a static vantage point are only vaguely comprehensible, but if I keep moving, I’ll develop a better understanding of how this chaotic system evolves. I’m holding a finger to the wind, then moving somewhere else and taking another reading. Hopefully this can help me to more deeply understand the weather patterns I’m experiencing, or at least help me conceptualize the topography that shapes them.

I could keep building out this metaphor indefinitely, but I think I’ve made my point. My multidimensional relationships with the world around me are constantly in flux, and I’m beholding these shifts with curiosity, and some semblance of equanimity. I’m practicing belief in myself, and in the is-ness of it all: the weather will keep changing, as it always has. I’m one small part of a beautiful process, and I’m excited to see how it keeps unfolding.