It's raining.
The skies are grey.
In this wind.
To some that grey is.
Miserable.
But I say look properly.
I love the rain.
Checking into my body right now.
I notice a profound sense of peace.
Is a sensation.
Peace can be felt.
In the body.
A sensation.
And it's a very beautiful thing to feel.
Maybe as I talk to you right now.
You'd be fortunate enough.
To feel what I'm talking about.
To feel it physically.
Maybe tune into your breath as I speak.
Just feeling the rise and the fall.
Of the abdomen.
And these feelings in the body.
The body may.
In Buddhism,
They're called Vedana.
Vedana,
It doesn't mean feelings like.
Just emotions.
It's a sense of.
.
.
The whole of our experience.
The whole of our in a landscape.
And it's really important to be aware of.
This inner landscape.
Because from it.
A whole life experience,
Not only unfolds.
But is directed.
We're driven.
By Weydener by these feelings within.
The vast majority,
Almost all of the time.
We're not consciously aware of this process.
It just happens.
And we react to it.
And normally.
It's a negative reaction.
Addictions,
Scrolling.
All of these things.
These come from Weyden.
From this feeling that we can't tolerate.
We've tried to escape it.
But the escape is into it.
Because when we become aware of this inner landscape.
What's happening throughout the whole body-mind.
We become free from it.
And the experience itself beautifies.
As I said when I started.
Peace.
Can be physically felt in the body.
And it's such a beautiful feeling.
Maybe you can feel it now.
It's a Sophony.
And unfolding.
A gratitude.
Not running away.
An opening too.
In the external,
Where there is.
Harsh.
It doesn't affect my inner weather.
In fact,
I feel profoundly peaceful.
As a sense of protection and safety and gratitude.
That comes with it.
Being inside.
Out of the rain.
But I don't mind getting wet too.
The wind and the rain can.
.
.
Hammer against this little cabin.
I'm in sunny.
I'm not exposed to it.
And that's.
.
.
Is a great metaphor.
For our inner resource.
The winds of the world can howl.
People can scream in our faces.
It can be torrential.
Out there amongst other people.
But I don't have to get wet.
I don't have to go out.
From my own experience.
To be affected by theirs.
Or can stay dry.
And peaceful.
That's a very rare thing in this world.
To not be battered by the weather of others.
To carry your own weather within you.
I remember.
Being a child.
My grandparents were very beautiful beings.
So loving.
And they had a caravan.
And I used to go away with them.
The storms would roll in from the sea.
On this tiny old caravan.
And the wind would lash at it and it would sound like it's about to tear the roof off.
The rain would hammer down.
Bizarrely.
The more that happened.
The safer I felt.
The more comfort I felt.
The howling winds.
Brought me joy.
What's happening out there.
Doesn't have to affect us.
If we are mindful.
If we're aware of our own inner landscape.
And we move into that.
And we operate from that.
Were protected.
We're protected by our own inner refuge.
That is a place within us.
That is completely Untouched.
By what's happening externally.
He sent us all.
And this rain.
For me it's.
.
.
A metaphor of unconditional love.
Rain is so beautiful.
I wrote a poem.
About two years ago.
And I woke up in the morning and I felt very heavy.
Very depressed.
As much as I've just said.
What I said about external and internal weather.
It was December.
And my mood was very much affected.
I do get seasonal affective disorder.
Although.
.
.
As the years of meditation have progressed.
That's become.
Actually,
Not almost nothing but something rather beautiful.
And There were really grey clouds,
Storm clouds,
And I was dropping my daughter off.
I know,
It's just.
.
.
Really heavy inside.
And it gave way,
I started reflecting on these clouds.
And it gave way.
To such.
Gratitude and beauty.
And I'd like to share that poem with you now.
The sky hangs heavy and low this morning.
Is clouds dense.
And shadowed.
Carrying the weight of sadness.
I let the heaviness settle into me.
Neither clinging to it nor pushing it away.
Within these black clouds.
Lies a quiet river.
It's love flowing unseen.
Ready to sustain.
All it touches.
As I accept this sadness.
Without resistance.
The sun begins to rise.
On the horizon.
And within me.
The darkness softens.
Enjoy blooms.
On this breathtaking December morning.
