Heat Stroke

On a hot summer day, when you search for the shade and find yourself soaking in the heat, what are the images that linger in your head?

Do you see the swirls of dust rising from the dried out land beneath your feet?  Are they flashes of the browned and crinkled grasses, dying flowers whose thirst has not been quenched? Do you find yourself thinking of the sweat running in rivulets down your back?

Or do you imagine lush fields of green?  The wind rustling through fields of blooms, lifting your hair from your cheek?  Can you feel its cooling caress?

Go ahead, stand in the heat.  Wait until your jacket is soaked through.  Then close your eyes and let your mind drift.  Then find a cool place and write down what went through your mind.

You may be surprised at what you find out about yourself.  Are you grounded to the reality you find yourself in?  Did the images you see reflect only what was in front of you before you closed your eyes?  Are you more of a drama queen?  Did you see images that created a hotter more desolate place? Or conversely a wildly more dramatic and better place?

Now try sitting in a cool, calm and welcoming space.  Preferably with no noise.  Just you and what you consider to be comfortable surroundings.  Then try this again.

Then move to the heat and write what you remember of your images.  Does your writing change?  Do you find yourself adjusting the phrasing to match your discomfort?

Can you find in these small exercises a little bit of insight into how your environment affects the way you see the world?  Does if potentially provide you insight on how your environment may change the way you choose to interact with the world?

There are very few people who are so even keeled that there are no changes. however subtle when exposed to signficant variances in their environment.  The old cliche about running hot and cold had to come from somewhere.

So I guess the next question is, what do we as human beings choose to do about this.  We cannot control the weather.  So what can we control?  I suppose we can control very little if we are not aware of what is controlling us.  But perhaps with a good bit of personal observation we can begin to understand how we are being controlled by these influences.  This is perhaps better phrased as how we are letting ourselves be controlled by these influences.  And then perhaps we can choose to make changes.  If the heat drives us toward feeling dried-out and brittle it will likely change our attitude toward our interactions as well.  If we are aware of this then we can try to rein this in and make conscious choices not to let this infect our relationships.  Or perhaps choose the easiest way out and simply avoid situations where we are placed at lengthy exposure to high levels of heat.  If the winter gives us the blues (I know this affects me in ways that are Very Not Good), then we can choose to operate within the short day time hours as much as possible when we have to be outdoors, and try to remain indoors in areas that do not require us to take notice that the light has left us at other times.  I know this all sounds rather banal.

But this has come from living through one of the hottest summers I can remember in my little city and realizing that it was having an affect on me and not just physically.  It was starting to impact my behavior.  And I thought perhaps I just might need to adjust this.

So I guess I wondered how often we take it upon ourselves as individuals to take this kind of internal "temperature" gauge, and how much better our relationships could become if we did it on a regular basis.

Just thinking out loud.

Have a Great Summer - Hope you find some Shade