“The Wind Beneath Our Wings”
There's no question that weather patterns are changing. Drought covers half the nation. China experiences massive floods. Minnesota goes snowless at Christmas.
When we assume that weather will continue to operate in exactly the same fashion as it has in the past, we leave ourselves vulnerable to its smallest changes. The weather, of course, is only being itself -- the interaction of wind currents and sunshine.
Remember your science teacher's explanation of how wind is created?
The sun heats the earth's atmosphere which causes warm air to rise. This creates a void which is instantly replaced with other air. The movement of the new air into this void creates the phenomena we call wind.
If the air is warmed sensitively, over a cool ocean, the outcome becomes a gentle spring breeze. If it is heated abruptly, over a baking desert, hurricanes or tornadoes are the natural result.
Interestingly, this exactly how our feelings are created.
When we treat someone lovingly (warm air rising), we create a void (within ourselves) that is immediately filled with the same substance rushing back in to replace what was given. In other words, whatever pleasant feelings we give to others are immediately returned to ourselves.
Conversely, if we treat someone harshly, we once again create an inner void that is immediately replaced with an identical substance, creating an inner sensation to match what was given. We treat someone poorly and the natural result is that we feel poorly ourselves. Giving really IS receiving.
What weather patterns are you creating? Merely take an honest look at your inner climate. Is your mind at rest, your body filled with sensations of gratitude and love? Or are your thoughts a cyclone of past regrets and future worries?
A person who lives in a flood plain can never find peace. He either lives in fear of the flood's arrival when times are dry, or fights desperately for survival when times are wet. Fear and fight being all he knows, he wrongly believes this is all there is. He grows used to misery and spends his days trying to make the best of it.
But there is an infinitely better life - one he cannot yet see - that is located outside of the flood plain altogether. If he would only expend the same effort he now applies to finding comfort within his misery, he could move away from the flood plain altogether and leave his misery behind forever.
In the three dimensional world, this makes perfect sense. Yet when it comes to the inner world of our thoughts, we suddenly get foggy.
Like it or not, the weather patterns that swirl within our own heads are there for only one reason - our thoughts created them. Rather than be demoralized by this piece of news, we should rejoice. If we are responsible for how we think and feel, that means we have the power to change our weather patterns for the better.
It never was that spouse, that job or our financial condition that caused us pain. It was our reaction to them. We heated those events too abruptly with our thoughts, creating a void that immediately unleashed exact duplicates to rush right back inside ourselves. We find ourselves in turbulent weather because we made it blow in the first place.
We've weathered the storm long enough. It's time to improve our mental climate. The solution is as simple as this: Give away whatever you want to receive.
You, and only you, are the wind beneath your wings.
Mike Johnson is a writer, entrepreneur and deer whisperer. He learned how to retire early and does his best to help others escape the employment wheel too. There’s more to life than work and there’s more to life than play. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “Both can be happening at the same time.” Learn more about Mike's offerings at MikeJohnson.biz