It’s in the Rain

The storm is finally rolling into Los Angeles on this fine Friday evening. A brisk cool breeze is shooting through my window, lifting the curtains and my spirits!

I never realize how much I’ve bottled up my feelings until it rains–I think I convince myself that I am fine, but then it rains and I realize I’ve just been holding my breath all that time. I feel whole when it rains and is cool like it is now. I feel full of life, energy, vigor, am my spirit swells with the joy of existence.

It is raining now –I can hear it hitting the cement, washing the diesel dust off the leaves and houses. And I can smell it–my body takes deep breathes of air. My muscles relax.

Looking back, my first experience with this feeling was when I traveled to India and Nepal. It was a sorching hot dry season, and at the end of one month it finally rained. It wasn’t until then that I realized how unhappy my body had been enduring the heat and dust and filth. That is exactly what I do here in Los Angeles–I endure. From one short rain spell to another. My life is marked by rain, like milestones.

I grew up with rain as part of my normal environment. Some people disliked it, but I always loved it. Rain makes me feel secure. There is some kind of physical component–making me aware of my senses, my self/being, heightened awareness; but there is also an emotional core to it. I love how it makes me feel–introspective but not in the sense of being withdrawn–more like reveling in my inner-self, my inner-life and creativity. It also draws me out–I love how my perspective on the world changes. Things look different when it rains–a perfectly coiffed hairdo gets spoilt–or mascara runs–appearances blur and pretense goes out the window, crisp newspapers become wet and ink bleeds, dry earth becomes sticky and loamy, surfaces get slippery. Walking out in the rain it’s like I have my own little ‘tent’–I examine things more closely–the world seems more fascinating. I could go on and on! What do you love about the rain?

So here is to this wonderful rainstorm–a song by Enya called “It’s in the Rain,” which I only just heard tonight when I stumbled upon an interview of her on YouTube.

Lyrics:

Everytime the rain comes down
Close my eyes and listen
I can hear the lonesome sound
Of THE sky as it cries

Listen to the rain
Here it comes again
Hear it in the rain

Feel the touch of tears that fall
They won’t fall forever
In the way the day will flow
All things come, all things go

Listen to the rain… the rain
Here it comes again… again
Hear it in the rain… the rain

Late at night I drift away
I can hear you calling
And my name is in the rain
Leaves on trees whispering
Deep blue seas, mysteries

Even when this moment ends
Can’t let go this feeling
Everything will come on again
In the sound falling down
Of the sky as it cries
Hear my name in the rain