The Weather Within

It’s been a generally lovely week here, weather wise, there have been some wet days, but mostly cold and sunny autumnal days. The change in weather and watching the fog closing in from a distance got me thinking about the weather…

“Good Morning. Lovely/Sunny/Cold/Wet* day isn’t it?” (*delete as appropriate). This is a typical quick conversation you may have with your neighbour, a stranger you meet on a walk or someone you work with. Being Scottish, we seem to talk about the weather a lot and it is usually the opener to any conversation. No matter how long we’ve lived in Scotland, it is strange that we continually complain when its too wet or cold and equally so if it is miraculously hot! There is no pleasing us 😃!

These daily pleasantries get us talking, just a simple way of saying hello, it may be to the old man and his dog you see on your daily walk. Keep it up as sometimes these small conversations can make a huge difference to both parties. The weather is a simple, easy thing to talk about, no need to think too hard just say what you see!

Imagine this scenario, similar to the above when you meet someone out for a walk, but instead, it’s a different kind of conversation and may go something like this… “Alright Charlie, beautiful weather this morning, but it’s pretty stormy within me!”

OK, so I know you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, well lets continue shall we…

“Oh Jack, that’s not good, what are you doing to calm the storm? I had some dark miserable days last week, so I know what it can be like. Let’s go for a coffee and have a chat”.

Or maybe another conversation is “Lovely day inside and out for me Molly, what’s it like with you?”

“It’s been a great week thank you, lovely and sunny within, although I was feeling a little bit cloudy earlier but this walk has helped me shift it.”

What’s your thoughts on this? Do you think this is something you could do, talk with your friends about the weather within you and speak this common language? We talk about the weather, so easily, we have this in common and it really is a simple way to talk about something that can be too hard to put into words.

Describe how you are as if you were telling someone what the weather was doing outside. If you are feeling great and wonderful – are you sunny with clear skies? Or perhaps if you are feeling anxious and uncertain this is making your weather within foggy and dreich. (A good Scottish word meaning dull and bleak.)

Just stop for a moment and think about how you are feeling today or at this moment in time. Now if you were describing how you are feeling in terms of weather what would you say? We open our curtains and look outside and judge the weather quite easily, why not each morning take a couple of moments to look in the mirror to see and feel what the weather within you is doing. How are you feeling – put it into weather words.

Learn to measure your inner weather, see what it is that makes you feel sunny or cloudy with some showers! We talk about the weather so freely and easily that we don’t have to think twice about it. What would it take for us all to speak with inner weather language? Not much, as it’s in our vocabulary anyway, it’s just a case of it becoming a natural way of describing how we feel. That will take practice, but is it a common language that we can all use and are all accustomed to?

We still need to talk about our feelings more, with honesty, we need to be able to reach out when we need help and be open to others. We all have days when we feel sad and miserable and for some this can be more often that not, but could putting a weather description to it make it easier to say out loud? What would help you? Perhaps you have your own way of expressing how you feel that is different to “normal language”.

I’m not saying this is the answer and will make everyone open up and talk about their feelings, but it could be a way for someone who is really struggling to talk and open up by describing how they are feeling. The heavy dark cloud that follows them, may mean others can get a glimpse of what they are going through, it may not be scientific but it would enable others to pick up when someone isn’t well or needs to talk. Saying “fine” when asked how you are tells us nothing. but saying “gloomy with rain clouds” gives us a lot more to go on.

We must take care of ourselves and others, we all want everyone to lead a beautiful and great life, so let’s reach out today and ask someone how the weather within them is.

Take care, have a lovely week, look after you and I hope the sun shines within.

Love Emma xx 😍