Emotional Weather

Our friend from London, Kate (not William’s Kate – this Kate is devoted to another Prince) came to visit us over the Easter weekend. During our many profound conversations over croissants in the morning, café crème in the afternoon and Duchess Grey tea in the evening, Kate mentioned one concept above all that intrigued me. It was the phrase “observing your emotional weather”.

First of all, what I like best about this phrase is that it assumes that we will have a variety of emotional weather, that this is completely normal. So in the same way you take it for granted that there will be sunny days, rainy days and the occasional stormy night, these all naturally occur in your emotions as well. I think this takes some of the weight off of our shoulders. It is not all our fault. We are not less of a person because we feel negative emotions. C’est comme ça….that’s the way it is.

Secondly, this idea infers that we should pay attention to our emotions, just as we do the weather and take precautions when necessary. Weather can actually kill you, and so can your emotions.

But Kate would go on to say that we should learn to observe our spiritual weather and learn to hold it all without passing judgment on it or over-reacting to it. Just as a child learns that rainy days are helpful because plants and animals need water, so we can mature to realize that there is purpose to the full range of our emotions that we’ve been given.

I’ve asked Kate to write me a paragraph or two in her own words but she told me not to hold my breath. I’ll up-date this post which is basically my reinterpretation of her idea, with her thoughts as soon as I can.