The Earth Said Yes

Yesterday morning I walked in heavy rain, the kind that makes the hedges and bushes smell fresh. The rain no matter how heavy seems to bring a sense of life and joy to all around. I heard birds singing the sound of rain it was almost as if some wonderful energy was conducting this just for me.

 In my younger days when I walked with my father, he  frequently said to me, ”Stop chattering and just listen and let nature give you some pleasure and maybe some answers.”

 I heard him say it to me again yesterday and did just that as the thought of the tale told by the sage of the old man.

With bent shoulders, he set out each day to walk his few miles. On the days when it rained he carried his furled umbrella, seldom if ever bothering to unfurl it, preferring to feel the rain on his balding head. 

He came to a place in the road where there were a number of rocky stairs which he climbed with determination and care. At the top of the steps, there was a carved pot with a cut bamboo pole to direct clear spring water into the pot. Here he would pause and enjoy the sweet taste of the spring.

Then he would pause for a moment, bending his ear, like an attentive student. He would listen, with joy on his face to the confluence of sounds; the pitter-patter of the rain on the leaves, the gurgle of the flowing water. There in the sounds was a sense, a precise mix of melancholy and joy that make life exquisite to live.

“There is sadness and beauty all around. When you can fully understand that and hear nature sing to you, you will no longer be a boy but a man my friend.”

So there you have it in answer to all those who said to me yesterday, "Why do you go walking in the rain?"  Simple, I want to feel alive. Where it seems many take themselves to find a cure for depression stress and sadness they just may be walking in the wrong direction.