Hello and welcome.
Find a comfortable position,
Whatever that looks like for you just now,
And begin to settle into stillness.
Allow the body to soften and release.
Shoulders lowering,
Jaw unclenching,
The breath finding its own natural rhythm.
Take one slow breath in and a gentle breath out.
Again,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Imagine now that you're walking a path somewhere in Scotland.
There are hills in the distance,
But the ground you walk on now is flat.
Grass is beneath your feet.
In between breaks and the clouds,
There are glimpses of blue in the sky.
The weather here can change quickly though.
A brief shower passes over the hills and you feel soft rain touching your face.
Clouds in the distance gather and darken.
And then,
Just as suddenly,
Sunlight breaks through and that blue sky can be seen again.
Bright grasses begin to shine.
Water glitters on stone.
A bee buzzes past on its way to the heather.
In Scotland,
We sometimes speak about experiencing four seasons in a single day.
And our lives can sometimes feel like that too.
Sometimes,
Experience changes moment by moment.
A difficult thought arrives,
Then passes.
A feeling rises strongly,
Then softens.
Energy comes,
And then fades.
Nothing stays exactly as it is.
Change is a constant in life,
Just as it is in the weather.
Take a slow breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Imagine yourself walking steadily through this shifting weather.
Not resisting the rain.
Not clinging to the sunlight.
Simply walking.
How often our mind says to us,
This feeling should stay,
Or this feeling should go.
But the hills don't argue with the clouds.
The loch doesn't resist the rain as it bounces on its surface.
The landscape just allows the weather to move through it.
Because the weather,
Rain or sun,
Gives the land what it needs.
So perhaps,
For a few moments,
You can let the emotions move through you too.
Breathing in,
Allowing.
Breathing out,
Softening.
Breathing in,
Softening.
When we start to allow,
To accept the changes in weather,
Or the changes in our lives,
It can become a little bit easier to handle.
When we remember that all things must pass,
Sometimes we can find a little bit more ease.
As the wind moves across the land now,
You hear rain pattering softly against water and stone.
Perhaps there's something in your life you wish would pass more quickly.
Maybe a feeling.
Maybe a situation.
Notice what happens if,
Just for this moment,
You stop struggling against its presence.
Not giving up.
Only loosening the fight.
Like standing beneath a passing shower,
Knowing this too is weather.
This too shall pass.
And now,
Once again,
The rain begins to ease.
Light slowly returns across the hills.
You notice steam rising from wet earth.
The scent of moss and rainwater.
That extra special brightness that follows after grey skies.
Sometimes joy arrives like this too.
Unexpected.
Brief,
Perhaps,
But real.
A shaft of sunlight through clouds.
A warm cup held between your hands.
Laughter heard from another room.
A sudden feeling of being alive.
As we accept the changing weather around us,
And that constant change in our lives,
We can appreciate all the moments that we have.
Whether they're rainy or sunny.
Because neither will last forever.
And each teaches us something.
About the other.
Can you find joy in those moments of your life as they happen?
As you breathe now,
Allow yourself to hold both truths gently.
The rain passes.
The sunlight passes.
And still,
Something in you remains present enough to witness both.
Take a long breath in.
And then a long breath out.
Feel your feet on the earth of the path beneath you.
Steady.
And grounded.
That weather moving overhead.
And life moving all around.
And you,
Continuing onwards,
On the path that you are walking.
Begin to return your awareness to your body now.
Notice what you are resting on.
Notice the movement of the breath as it flows in and out.
The rise and fall of your chest.
The sounds around you.
And carry this thought with you as you return.
You don't need to hold on to the brightness.
Or to fear the rain.
Accept both.
The sky will always change.
Life will always change.
But you can weather it all.
Thank you for sharing this practice.
