Awake to the Weather

We've been having schizophrenic weather here in Western Oregon. The sun shines, and 15 minutes later there is a fierce storm, and then glorious sun and blue skies, with only the downed branches and the wet pavement to attest to the fact that a storm came though. The best part is that the air smells so good. It smells fragrant with flowers and clean and pure. This photo is of the Grand Canyon. I took it about two years ago, on a hike with a friend and a hail storm blew up. It was beautiful and exhilarating and bitterly cold. I remembered my trail manners and spoke to a couple pressing on to let my partner know I was heading back. He caught up with me shortly and we agreed that conditions were more adverse than we planned for. So we retreated back up to the rim and went back to our cabin, where we spent the rest of the day warming up and watching the storm form through the window.

I have a huge respect for Nature. I find in it an endless source of wonder and beauty. I also find displays of Nature's ferocity highly erotic... probably because I feel so alive, so present to the moment, pumped full of adrenaline and feeling with every part of me... even the tiny hairs on my arms. I dance in the rain. I turn my face up to the sky. I love the feel of thunder's 'boom' on my skin... I can feel the impact of the sound against my body. The lightening's flash, so jagged, seems to illuminate my mind even behind closed eyelids. And I know myself alive in a way I'm rarely awake to.

What is it about modern life that makes us numb? I think it is the routine. We like our routine, we like the certainty of knowing what our day will be, what the weather will be, who we will see, what we will do. We like life predictable as possible, because uncertainty makes us anxious. And yet it also makes us feel alive. The greatest certainty in life is death. And the greatest uncertainty is when death will claim us. And in the face of death we cling to what we can control, to certainty and predictability, and in that process, we leech ourselves of life, of vitality, of aliveness.

Reclaim the wonder of your daily life. Dance in the rain. Hike in a hailstorm. Stop what you are doing and tip your face to the sky. Disrupt your routine: try something new every day. Do something you fear. Take a bite of the unknown. Awaken to the sensual immediacy of life. Its so fucking short!