In-between Moments

The rain is pounding down outside and I realize that it has been weeks since I have heard the sound of rain. Rain is one of those sounds that you don’t realize you miss until you hear it. The day is hot and lazy, but the rains seems to be granting us permission to do less. The summer is a time of slowness, a time to allow yourself to not be so high functioning, to be less effective, less prolific and less busy. But the rain really seals the deal.

I seem to be very focused on the energies around us these days- those things that are bigger than us.

Last week it was time and this week it is our earth. She is wrapping us in her sound blanket and forcing us to do less. To be still. To cancel and stay cozy not matter what the temperature may be. I can feel my nervous system unwind as I sink back against my pillow and feel the stillness in my house though I know that it is full. I am grateful she took charge of this day. It makes me remember that I can force myself to slow down more. I can remember that moving forward is not the only mode we have.

We also have neutral or even shutting the engine down completely. Restore. Reset. Retain. Keep our energy in without expending it. There was a book that I loved which I read over the Pandemic called “Good Morning, I Love You” -by Shauna Shapiro PhD- that I highly recommend.

In it, she talked about the in-between moments. I may be paraphrasing, or it is what I gleaned from her writing, but it is the time between the plans and the events and the organizing- that is where life lives. In the in-between moments. The car ride to the beach, walking up the stairs and noticing something that you have never noticed on a staircase you have walked a million times. Maybe you hear something that your child says that makes you realize that they are seeing so many things? The thoughtfulness in their response, the maturity in their answers. Not the answer itself but the way in which they answer??

The moments that are not technically moments are what we should be living for because that is where life lives.

Rain forces the in-between moments. The recognition of time, space, humanity and stillness.