Exploring the Weather of Your Soul

Noticing, Naming and Nurturing Your Inner Weather Patterns

Photo by Alphan Arseven on Unsplash

Many of us pay attention to the weather. I live in a place where the weather changes quickly. I want to be prepared— if it’s going to rain or if a hike is not advisable because a huge thunderstorm is moving in the afternoon. We want to know what’s happening around us.  What’s coming? What’s on the horizon that we can prepare ourselves for now? It’s just a wise thing to know—is the weather forecast.

High Pressure systems do one thing.  A cold front coming does another. There are the ecclesiastical seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall that mark time and space. It’s only a good thing to know if you’re living in a long, dark and cold winter that’s about to end in a thawing, warming spring. Knowing the weather in our outer world helps.

But what do we know of our inner weather?

What do we really know about those inner, soulish tropical disturbances that may intensify and grow and knock us out of light, water and sustenance.? What is your inner radar showed abundant sunshine, satisfaction and joy? What if the inner fog and growing cold could reveal that the fog is going to lift and soon?

How are you being affected by the conflict in Israel and the suffering of the innocents in Hamas? You’ve seen me write much about how Covid affected me and us. What if you’ve lost your spouse; been diagonised with cancer; been laid off or have a child diagnosted with ADHD; or here’s one happening to a friend—recently diagnoised with cancer but can’t get treatment scheduled because there is a shortagle of Chemo. All these “facts” and “events” of our lives produce weather patterns in us and in those we “do” life with. Knowing your inner weather is just a helpful way to explore how we are doing.

A few years ago, I spent a week with an Augustinian monk, named, Martin Laird. Martin is a wise monk man with a PhD, wonderful author on contemplative prayer and professor at Villanova University. He taught me how to read my inner weather.  What he taught me does not require a PhD and I’m very glad for that.

Here’s the way to “check” your inner weather:

Do an imaginary sweep of your inner world. Imagine an inner radar moving around your soul, showing the state of your inner world—the weather of your soul, so to speak.

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

It’s really rather simple.  There are three steps involved in learning about your inner weather.

1.     You notice the weather inside:  What are you feeling?  What do you notice as you pause in the quiet. The key to the noticing is stillness, quietness and silence.  Before you try to notice; try to get yourself still. Remember, the old Psalmist said it best and most simple when he wrote, “Be still and know…” Knowing comes by stillness. I know this might seem un-American. I realize that it is counter-intuitive for many of us on the Enneagram spectrum but it really is true. Be still—that’s the first and most important step in discerning your inner weather. Your first impluse may not be revealing. Trust the process. Sit comfortably. No distractions. No ear buds. No noise. Just descend inside and begin to notice.  By “decending inside” I mean to literally take 3-4 deep, cleaning breathes. It just clears the inner chaos. Take a moment and write down any observations you notice.  I do this in the top, right corner of my journal. I do this so I can record this and look back not only on chronolotical dates of my entries but what long term patterns were happening in me that I need to pay attention to over time.

2.     You name the weather.  In naming the weather, you give words to what you have noticed. Remember, hurricanes are named and we remember them by their name. Also, remember that Jesus cast out demons by their names.  So, knowing the name of something, gives identity, clarity and perhaps some authority.  Some examples might be: abundant sunshine, tropical depression, a desert drought, a  Cat 4 hurricane, etc.

3.     You nurture what you now know.  By nurture, I mean You notice it more and learn more synonyms for the names you’ve discovered—more defining descriptions; more cultivation of a now observed pattern.  Maybe you say: “I am in a winter.”  You might feel frozen, numb, paralyzed with no signs of green or life.  But as you keep noticing, you excavate more out of what you have noticed and named. The winter is a long, extended grief that is weighing heavily in your soul. It’s like a spiritual tundra or perhaps it’s a scortched earth feeling where you feel burned out—burned up and exhausted.  Think of nurture as more of a cellular layer, a deeper way of noticing and naming.

How long does it take to do this?  Not long. It’s just a way to be quiet, descend into your soul and just pay attention to what you see and sense. 5 minutes—maybe longer.  This is not a 30 minute exercise and I’d be careful to not overdo it as can be done.

Keep it simple. You really don’t need a seminar; private session or retreat on how to do this. It’s more organic, than linear and more fun, than tedious.

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I’ve written a little poem to help me with this. Perhaps it will help you also. So, I’ve included it for the folks who are choosing to support me in my endeavors with poetry. It’s my way of trying to say more with less words. So, this is for the “paid subscribers”. If you’d like to become one but can’t, no worries. Just email me at info@pottersinn.com and I’ll add you to the list to get it all.

By the way, in upcoming Substacks, I am going to give away The Great Annual Examen for FREE to all those who subscribe as a tangible way of saying, “thank you for supporting my work.” So, do stay tuned for that.

Finally, I’d be so grateful if you’d keep me and the 70 folks who are travelling to Western North Carolina now to join Gwen and I for our retreat, “Come Before Winter.” I’m very excited; filled with anticipation, hoping for great time and great depth share over time, good food, rocking chairs and fires!