I’ve been in the northern California Bay Area this week and a storm caused a slight delay in posting today’s message. High winds, torrential rain, flooding, downed trees, mud slides, and power outages are continuing to occur this morning. So, as I’m wishing you a “Happy 2023!” I’m passing on the message I’m reminding myself for this new year – “Expect storms!”
No matter where you live in the US or beyond, the widespread changes in the earth’s climate system need to be taken into consideration whether you’re planning a picnic, a road trip, a vacation, or even an online conference. (Your internet connection is unstable.) The scientific term for what’s behind this is “global climate change,” affecting temperatures, precipitation rates, and sea levels.
If our experience last night is any prediction, when my friend Christine and I declined to go out for dinner and hunkered down in the condo–storms can bring gifts, if viewed in that way. The simplicity of making do with what’s in the fridge, forgoing television for reading another chapter of a favorite book, and the coziness of conversing while sitting close to the heater, holding a warm cup of tea in our hands.
Preparing for the potential effects of a storm can help us establish redundancies and become more resilient. Knowing that a power outage was likely, we warmed the space an extra degree and laid out some extra blankets, just in case. Flexibility might be a good word for 2023 so we loosen up and go more with the flow, rather than ”railing at the gods” when our plans and schedules get interrupted. Like most other ordeals and challenging experiences, on our life journeys, when they are over –
Storms clear the air,
Cleaning smog and cobwebs
out of the atmosphere.
Light follows thunder, revealing
clarity in the stark edges of the
moist dawn.
Wishing you clarity and collaborations with our weather relatives in the coming New Year!
