The eye of the storm: this is where I am spending most of my days right now.
I do not mean to imply that things are “bad” or that anything is “wrong” with what is occurring in my life presently when I use the term “storm.”
On the contrary. Life is rich and full.
And, like a storm – many pieces of my professional and personal life are moving quickly now, spiraling and evolving, building in intensity…
Defined as “a disturbance of the normal condition of the atmosphere, manifesting itself by winds of unusual force or direction,” my life is in a small storm. The normalcy I generally experience is being stirred up by transition, new relationships, deepened communications, a much broader reach on life and perspective. In short, the atmosphere, my environment, is shifting.
It is very exciting. I have always loved a good storm. Even when I lived in places where a storm resulting in a power outage meant no heat, I could easily get caught up in the motion and movement, the energy, the change that is so very tantalizing. As a little girl, I loved the strong, hot dusty, winds that would blow in from the eastern deserts. While people around me sat in fear or simple disgust at the disturbing upheaval, I would relish it. I recall sitting at my upstairs bedroom window watching shadows moving in the glinting darkness of wind and rain. The sparks of wet light that clung to the screen and windowpane were, each one, an opportunity for reverie, make believe, magic and play.
This “storm” is no less enticing and energizing. There are riches in watching it build, in staying grounded as it swirls, in imagining what the landscape will look like after it subsides. For every storm lingers just long enough to change the scenery, even if it is only my perspective on the landscape. There is creative power in the genesis, growth, and recession of life change.
Staying in the storm’s eye is an act of faith, trust, and has a very potent power and creativity of its own. I get to go along for the ride across the landscape without getting thrown to the outside edges where chaos, and fear, prevail. I get to see that staying in the center is quieter, calmer, safer. And it offers an incredibly beautiful vantage point!
(Orig. posted in July 2013.)
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| (oil pastel I painted circa 2005) |
