Who Can Stop the Rain?

   What a strange day this has been.  It’s late Summer, and there is still the call to partake of the fruits of the season, the colors of abundance.  The kids are going back to school so the vibe of the Fall to get moving, get busy, get organized is here, ready or not.  And, in the midst of it – all electronic media today calls us to, simply, fear.  We had some early prep in the form of a 5.8 earthquake on Tuesday so we’re already a little strange, now here comes Irene.
    Here’s the thing: I don’t want to be afraid. I don’t feel like it.  All day, I have had the feeling that I should be doing something, but I can’t imagine what that would be.  I’ll bring in my patio plant, stack the chairs under cover this evening – 10 minutes maybe.  I filled up my 10 gallon jug of water, but beyond that, WHAT???? 
    The truth is, I do not know what will happen as a result of Irene passing through.  I hope nothing too bad.  All this free floating anxiety and spin doctoring courtesy of our friends at the power company serves me no useful purpose.  I suppose if the power is out for days, they’ll try to say, “You can’t be mad at us. We told you this could happen.”  They shouldn’t waste their electronic breaths on me.  I will still be mad at them for neglected infrastructure maintenance and improvement, record profits, and now for their fear-mongering PR campaign.
    Although I have thoroughly enjoyed this rant and thanks for hanging in with me through it, it has little to do with anything important.  I write this today to tell you about the process that preceded me writing.  All day, I have felt tired, fuzzy, and unconnected.  I didn’t even sleep well last night.  I had some stories (and self judgments) about what might be going on with me, but nothing that helped with getting me moving.  So I did what I often do when I can’t do anything else – I recreated in reading someone else’s ideas.
    Thorne Coyle wrote on her website, “if we don’t meet each day from a pool of silence, we will drown in the noise of our own making. The clamor of the over-culture will hijack our best intentions over and over.”  Hmm.  I took a few minutes and did some square breathing.  What came up as I did the breathing was this slightly below the surface noise about the upcoming hurricane, and the thought that maybe I should be more worried. 
    I’m worried that I am not more worried.  Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce senseless suffering, ducca to those of the Buddhist persuasion.  I do not have any brilliant answers as to how one should respond to senseless suffering when she finds it.  It helped me to recognize and name it for myself.  What I did after that was drink some water, look at pictures from our recent day trip to the beach, and sit down to write this blog.  In a little while, I will meet with some clients. Blessed be.