by Gundula Welti
08 Apr 2020
My husband did warn us that we would get soaked and that a storm was forecast for 9pm, but the kids and I were dying for an ice cream. So we set off into town on foot.
Ice creams in hand, we emerged from the ice-cream parlour just as the skies opened. The kids ran off down the road while my husband and I took shelter from the storm on the entrance steps of a house.
Huddled up together we watched the downpour, the drenched tourists running here and there (carrying their flip-flops) and babies opening their mouths to catch a few drops of rain!
Instead of grumbling and saying “I told you so”, we just enjoyed this moment of togetherness. No one blamed anyone else. No one needed to defend themselves.
When I look back on it, I feel that it was one of those magic moments when the weather just doesn’t matter. It was raining. Full stop. We just accepted it instead of fighting it.
When was the last time that you fought against something that was happening instead of accepting it and enjoying the moment?
by Gundula Welti
07 Apr 2020
While on a horse safari, our guide, a biologist, pointed out a herd of animals and said “Springboks!”, and then she added “they’re delicious!” Surprised by this rather bizarre comment, I smiled at her British sense of humour. Shortly after that, she showed us some Oryx under a tree and once again commented “very good for barbecues”.
I wondered whether I was just dealing with a committed carnivore, whether she had a very odd sense of humour, or whether everything here was judged on its edibility? It turns out that in a country where there is no water to grow fruit and vegetables, the population is rather dependent on meat.
Choice has nothing to do with it. They don’t hunt for trophies, or for other trivial reasons. They don’t hunt endangered species. They just hunt what they need to eat.
Judging the way the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere manage drought through the eyes of people who live in the northern hemisphere, is unfair. We often need some kind of explanation to understand something that seems odd to us.
What about you? When did you judge something without taking the time to understand?
by Gundula Welti
07 Apr 2020
Rain dances are 100% effective.
It rains every time the Indians do a rain dance.
Because they dance until it rains!
Many people believe in the Law of Attraction.
We “attract” things by imagining that they are already there.
We hear the sounds and see the images of the scenario that we want and we do everything we can to make it become real.
We are effectively dancing our own rain dance!
Imagine an Indian who has given up: he doesn’t dance, he sees the negative side of everything and gets depressed waiting for the rain that never comes.
If you really want something, imagine in your mind’s eye exactly what it looks like. Your whole being is bent on getting what you want. Your likelihood of achieving it is very high.
What image can you create in your mind to get your rain dance underway?
by Gundula Welti
07 Apr 2020
“It’s lovely weather here!” says Jean enthusiastically on the phone. When pushed for more information, we discover that actually it’s drizzling, as is often the case in the Basque country, the temperature has dropped and it’s cold in the house.
We smile to ourselves because we’d like it to be warmer and sunnier in Paris too.
The Talmud teaches us: “You don’t see the world as it is, you see it as you are”.
I’m often surprised to discover that someone has an opinion that is diametrically opposed to mine or a different perception of the same phenomena. I’m so convinced that I’m “right”.
Our lives, our experiences, our environment and our education all influence who we are today and our perspective on the world.
And what if the really important thing was just to listen to other people to understand their perspective? After all, we see the world as we are!
by Gundula Welti
06 Apr 2020
“Life’s a bitch,” moans my friend, furious. “Just when I think my life is on track and everything is fine, that I am enjoying myself and feeling happy, that’s when I have a problem. It’s always the same old story,” she grumbles.
I keep quiet and let her rant. I’ve often had the same thoughts. When it’s all systems go and I’m riding a wave of happiness, some external factor always seems to appear and bring back down to earth. But I’ve often said that was probably a good thing, because it stops me getting too full of myself.
A proverb that I found in a poem that I came across illustrates my ideas in a much prettier way than I can:
“Life is like a rainbow: you need the rain and the sun to see its colours.”
What if we were happy all the time? Would you be able to appreciate the true value of the things that happened to you? It’s the rain that creates the rainbow. So let’s not moan. Let’s see what good is going to come out of this rain. In just a little while.
by Gundula Welti
05 Apr 2020
This year, it was best not to be travelling with me. During my week’s sailing holiday in Greece, the Medicane (the Mediterranean version of a hurricane) struck. When I went to Italy to go horse riding, a particularly severe storm had knocked down huge numbers of trees.
On both occasions I grumbled to myself. Both places were known for their clement weather. It wasn’t fair!
Nevertheless, we made the most of it by visiting the Acropolis and the city of Athens. After a whole day of rain in Italy, the sun came out and we were amazed by the light reflected in the rain drops on the leaves. We enjoyed watching the clouds scudding across a perfect blue sky.
Neither of these trips turned out how I was expecting. But these unforeseen events brought out certain highlights that would otherwise have passed by unnoticed.
What about you? What disruptions in your life have led to pleasant surprises?
by Gundula Welti
05 Apr 2020
Benjamin got up and announced that he
was going to smell the weather …
I watched in surprise as he went out of
the room. When he came back I asked him what kind of weather he
had managed to ‘smell’? He replied “Weather that’s full of light after
three days of rain, bathed in the first rays of the spring sunshine” … Aah.
That poet explained to me later that he
experienced everything through the sense of smell. I know most of the
population is visual, so here I have a rare specimen indeed. Apparently, he
often gets teased about his olfactory experiences.
Ever since then, I wonder when I go out
what I will sense in the air. It doesn’t come naturally to me but sometimes I
feel a sensation that would otherwise have passed me by.
Do we fully use the antenna we have
available to be a bit more open to the world?
What about you? If you stuck your nose
outside, what olfactory experience would you have?
