It rained the other day (you may have noticed). My initial reaction was:
“glorious ride in rain, utterly invigorating and uplifting, joyous, rain-in-mouth, deacon-blue-in-head, alive!!! #initialunconsideredreaction”
After the endorphins settled, my slightly more-considered reaction commented on the “Blessed Rain” see below
And today; the wet ride in was again ‘refreshing’, but I came to consider that we’re often enchanted by the sparkle of novelty.
The novelty of rain, sun, the new, the old, the different, the shiny, the dull, the kill, the birth, …
When we perceive new things we are often enchanted and drawn to the joy that they evoke.
That joy might be temporary, fleeting or deep and wholesome – it might be nurturing and essential or unhealthy and toxic.
I hope we can all realise any opportunity for enchantment but be wary of its captivating effect on our perspective and attitude.
Make the most of ‘the different’ today, en-joy it, but be mindful as you might also have too much of a good thing?
Be alive, get wet, dry off, be alive!
[Facebook post]
Blessed Rain?
On the cycle ride in today the rain was (just a tad) refreshing.
Yup, it was wet, grey, and not-warm, but other than that, we’re all alive! (those that are that is).
I guess it’s a fine line between seeing the rain as a blessing or a curse.
Some say, “nowt such thing as bad weather just bad preparation.” ?
I dare say farmers, flood victims, and those with leaky roofs, might disagree with that. (I do feel for the flood victims. I wonder if town-planning and traffic infrastructure is part of the cause?) Perhaps you can have too much of a good thing…
But on the whole, we do tend to generally curse the (blessed?) rain.
Yes, we’ve had our fair share of it this summer, but let’s not always curse it.
“Oh it’s a miserable day” I hear. Umm… no, you’re “being miserable” about “the day”!?
Today I rode in; I could have focused on negative observations;
Cold, wet hands, wet feet, cars without lights in the rain, cars with poor condition screen demisters and wipers, the majority of school-kids with nice new blazers and no coats(!) in pouring rain (that’s teens for you I guess), poor visibility, wet leaves on the ground, puddles, spray from cars… no sun…
Or might I focus on positive observations;
Alive, rain-in-your-mouth, invigorating rain-on-head, the freedom of cycling is heightened by the stream of smoking almost-stationary traffic steaming into the city, Deacon Blue (Raintown) in my head, the joy of passing the usual pedestrian suspects, “morning!” with a smile, the toddlers loving their pink umbrellas, the thought of nature needing life-giving water…
Be alive, get wet, dry off, be alive!
…then after a day in an office…
Blessed Rain! Be alive, get wet, dry off, be alive!
As part of my work for ‘Bookmark People’ I created a suite of nine a ‘Reading is good for you’ designs each highlighting a specific point.
As part of my work with ‘Bookmark People’, we’ve seen Public Libraries’ Health and Well-being collections frequently promoted using our 
Jules P Richards 