Let's talk about the weather

Not a day goes by without hearing someone complain about the weather. Maybe it's just something for people to talk about when they don't know what else to say. I suppose I am OK with that, but if we are going to talk about the weather, why does it have to be in a negative context? I think we are becoming too disconnected with our outside world - you know, the one we were actually created for - to appreciate the beauty, rhythms, and patterns from which it is made.

Every natural system has rhythm: Atoms vibrate, the earth spins, the sun rises and sets, and the seasons fluctuate from cold to hot, or from wet to dry. It's as if life itself is built upon one big tug-of-war, each extreme pulling in it's desired direction but none ultimately prevailing. The result is a delicate ebb-and-flow resulting in a beautiful balance which enables life to exist. Why is it that we are so intent on distancing ourselves from these cycles? We are slowly pulling out of the world where we came from and going into a world that we have created, one that is always light, warm, dry, and constant. A world that is always predictable.

Just after writing the two paragraphs above, I came across this while reading Ray Jardine's Trail Life:

"Nature has perfected her ways throughout the eons, and in most cases we humans can benefit by accepting those ways. When we enter the woods with unrealistic ideals born and bred in Urbania, we may instead expect nature to cater to us. Haven't we all heard someone say, "I'm going hiking today... I hope it doesn't rain." Well, what if it does rain? Our sodden hiker returns home, expectations unfulfilled: rebuffed by the Avalanche of Adversity. When we expect things of nature, we weaken ourselves with our own inflexibility. Our hiker could have said, "I'm going hiking today, and in case it rains I'll carry my umbrella." It is one's rigid expectations that make the wilderness seem so hostile; and is what keeps many people at home."

My challenge for you is this: embrace the seasons, learn to live with them and love them for what they offer. Get outside and discover the beauty that exists all around us, year-round. Learn how to appreciate the natural rhythms by participating in them rather than trying to avoid them. Work towards being as comfortable outside as you do inside, over time you may find yourself preferring it.

We have found that by experiencing rain, snow, cold, mud, sun, sweat, or just plain-old fresh air, life just feels better. We feel more whole and alive. Food tastes better, sleep comes easier, stress drifts away, and our bodies rise to the occasion by building muscle and getting leaner... as if we were created for it.