Checking your inner weather

The weather outside constantly changes, our moods are just the same

Today I walked to work in a fine drizzle. Such different weather from the past week where we've got used to clear blue skies and sunshine. It reminded me of how our mood can change from day to day or even from hour to hour.

One day we might be sunny and cheerful. Another day cold and detached, whilst another our mind continually turns something over and over, like an object being blown around in the wind.

Sometimes our emotions can be mild and fleeting, like a passing cloud, while other times they can be intense and persistent, like a prolonged period of rain.

I first came across the idea of our state of mind being changeable like weather, when I began learning mindfulness in 2017.

We all know and accept that the weather outside changes. We understand that there are periods of sunshine, days of rain, cold snaps and thunder storms. And, although it is out of our control, we can influence its impact on us - carry an umbrella, wear sunscreen, stay indoors.

Our moods are just the same.

They descend and we can not instantly change them, no matter how much we wish they might be different. In fact, trying to think our way out of unwanted states of mind seems to lock us in for longer, often super-charging them.

At times like this, it's useful to view our different mental states like inner weather systems. Temporary conditions that will pass in time.

As a mindfulness practitioner, I regularly check my inner weather.

I turn my attention inwards, observe and name my state of mind and decide what I might do, if anything, to support myself. I compare it to checking the time on my watch; I glance inwards and check my weather.

Terms I use to describe my inner weather:

• Clear - still mind

• Cold - detached

• Hazy - distracted

• Overcast - gloomy

• Sunny - positive

• Windy - worried

• Stormy - moody
  

The trick is accepting how things are and not getting attached to wanting things to be different.

Letting things be can be hard if my mood is low. I still don't like it and catch myself trying to figure out why I have it, believing if I knew why it was here I could get rid of it faster.

But with practice, I've become better at allowing things to be as they are, understanding that you cannot push or rush states of mind, trusting that in time they will pass through.

Sometimes my inner weather doesn't change for days and just when I think it's going to be a certain way forever... the mood lifts without warning. Just like when rays of sunshine break through a cloud.

Being able to observe and not react to our emotional states or mental chatter doesn’t come naturally. Doing a mindfulness course can help you develop a witnessing stance to your inner experience.

If learning at your own pace, 1-2-1 with a mindfulness trainer is of interest, take a look at my bring mindfulness to life course. Nothing changes if nothing changes.