What’s With The Weather?

Summer is making an appearance early this year in Seattle with blue skies and warm weather. I have been outside more than to just collect mail and run to my car, parked 20 feet away.

I am affected by sunlight and gray days. When it’s dark, dreary, and frigid in the winter, I suffer. Don’t open the drapes; it’s too gray outside. Stay in and turn the lights on, I shelter myself from the cold. The drizzle of rain is soothing, gray skies are not. I get cranky, depressed, moody, and eat the wrong things: sugar laden, fat filled comfort foods. This is me waiting for summer, and warmth. Perhaps I’m a lizard, searching for a warm rock. Phoenix in August is heaven to me.

When we feel out-of-sorts and can’t explain why, it might be that an external force is affecting us, like weather: hurricane, tornado, hot spell, cold blustery afternoon. Or maybe it’s toxic relationships, too much food, lack of sleep, more anxiety than is healthy, or not enough movement throughout the day. A body at rest…….stays there. It settles. Everything affects everything else, including mood. With awareness comes the ability to recognize that something isn’t working, and the ability to change it. Anything can affect anything else. Do something different to reengage your brain and your energy.

Variations of workouts come to me more in the winter than the summer. Imagination surfaces in cold weather, and I have more curiosity. I have to keep moving to stay warm and keep my mind engaged. It’s a productive time, the damp and dreary. But I don’t have to like the weather.

When it’s warm, I go outside and savor the sunlight, thinking nothing thoughts. Everything in time: Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall; even the seasons know that change is healthy. Life is change. Accept it, embrace it, use it.

That’s Aging Intelligently.