Be Happy AND Cool

“Are you havin a good summer?”  “Well, if it would ever stop raining I might. “  Sound familiar?  Complaining about the weather is such an interesting thing.  The weather is something that we have absolutely NO control over. We are powerless against it and at it’s mercy.  It is what it is.  Any time we resist or push against or wish something that is, was different,  we make ourselves unhappy. It’s a self-sabotaging behavior kinda like shooting ourselves in the foot.  It’s weird that we will allow the weather to have so much control over whether we feel good or bad.  I think there are a few things that we could consider trying that would help us feel better regardless of the weather.

Pay attention to our focus.

It’s interesting how we humans are drawn to the negative and the lack of pretty much every subject.  Not enough money, time, love, good weather, etc. Yes it rained for 3 hours this morning.  But there were 8 hours after that of beautiful summer weather.  Yet, we seem to have this compulsive urge to complain about the 3 “bad” hours of weather rather than be grateful for the 8 good hours.

Some people are really obsessed with this.  It’ll be a beautiful day out and someone says “What a beautiful day!”  And the reply is,  “Ya but it’s NOT gonna last.  The forecast calls for rain tomorrow.”  Bringing the focus back to the rain.

Sure it would be nice if every hour of every day were just the right temperature, but that’s not the way it is.  It comes back to our focus.  If we are focusing on the “bad” we are not going to feel as good as if we were focusing on the good.  Our feelings are a direct result, of our thoughts.  So, we can just allow our thoughts to think about the times it IS raining and count them and talk about how it’s a record rainfall year and how you can’t remember a rainy summer like this since 1963 and so on,  or we can more purposely direct our attention and thoughts to the positive and therefore feel better.

Besides, too much of a good thing and we start taking it for granted and don’t enjoy it as much.  Face it, we’d just be complaining about how dam hot is is out.  I’ve noticed on those days when it rains part of the day, then the sun comes out,  I appreciate it so much more and actually enjoy it more.

The second thing is our attitude.

We could change our attitude towards rain from rain is bad to rain is good.  So,  when it starts to rain, instead of thinking, “Oh NO, it’s RAINING so THERE goes our day. It’s gonna SUCK now.  How depressing! A wasted day of gloom and misery!” Just writing those words made my heart sink.  Did you feel it or was it just me?

Now, just as an experiment, Let’s imagine that water is as valuable and special as the rare and much sought after Lapiz Lazuli gem.  And rain is a gift from the gods in reward for us doing such a good job here on earth and this magical and precious liquid bestows us with special powers and means that we will have good luck for the next week.

We would LOVE the rain and be so excited when it came.  We’d watch the weather and HOPE for rain.  We’d call all our friends and say, “Have you heard?  It’s gonna RAIN tomorrow!!!  Isn’t that AWESOME!”  We are SO blessed!  As you imagine this, feel the shift right now in your mood.  So, you see that it’s not really the rain that’s bumming us out, it’s our attitude towards it.

The third is thinking of the positive aspects.

Instead of thinking about all the reasons that it’s bad that it’s raining, we could challenge ourselves to think of the many reasons why it’s GOOD that it’s raining a lot this summer.  Like, “The grass is SO green!”  and “I haven’t had to water my grass ONCE this summer!  And “ It’s so SOFT when I walk barefoot on it.  Not like those other summers where we hardly get any rain and the grass prickles my feet!     What a great savings in my water bill.  The streams are nice and full!  Think of how happy all the little creatures of the forest are to have all this water. I haven’t had to get a car wash since June 1st” Have YOU noticed how clean the streets are?  (you get my point).

So some of you may be rolling your eyes at my flakey ideas and possibly even have your index finger down your throat givin me the Gag sign.  I hear ya, “Wow, she sounds high.  Maybe hopped up on Benzedrine or something,  but definitely under the influence.  All this positive talk is a load of crap and really isn’t very cool.”  Well, I’d rather be happy than cool. (although I think that I’m both)    So, if you care about bein happy and feeling good, don’t knock it till you try it.  It actually is kind of like a drug because attitude is mood altering.

So, go ahead and inhale a little positive attitude.  You can even drive safe and there are no munchies afterwards.

What do you think?

Can you think of more funny reasons why the rain is good?