Sunday 19 June 2016

Go Stand Under A Tree

Ah, Sundays, the days when things happen slowly. Very slowly. The day when even rain falls in slow motion from the sky as you glance out the window, and the wavelets on the surface of a swimming pool might as well be features on a watercolour painting. Yes, Sunday can be a very worrisome day for its inactivity. Not everyone remembers how to relax, anymore.

Is any of this making sense? In retrospect, no, as I've just been out to stand under a tree and listen to the rain for a while. This is one of the most relaxing experiences in the universe, to simply wander out and stand under a tree. It's one of the most direct connections you can have with nature. Do raindrops falling on leaves and tiles have a naturally meditative effect, fostering introspecting and relaxation in the human psyche, or is it purely personal? Did all those days watching the rain from the arches at school have a profound effect on the psyche? It's such a soothing thing in the evening. More people should learn to love rain.

It's easy to get lost, to lose contact with the world, when you have the whole false world of the Internet to lean on. The Internet is a construct, though, and the world outside is something else. The sheer physicality of raindrops, and their noise, forms a far greater connection to the world than any keyboard or sunbeam could. It's a little like sensing air movement at your fingertips, swimming in a scenic bay, or sitting on top of a cliff and listening to the waves crash and the winds rush.

Yes, it may be a Sunday, but it can be turned to the powers of good. The so-called 'day of rest' can legitimately be a day of rest, of your own choosing and not in the way imposed by the daft world outside of commercialism, of politics, and even of religion. Take that moment, and if it appeals to you, go stand under a tree and experience the rain. You never know, you might enjoy it.

O.

PS Without raindrops, we could never have rainbows.

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