The “weather” is a catch all phrase we use to describe the external environment happening around us. There are a lot of parallels between “life” and “weather” one of the most obvious being that major aspects of both are outside of our control.

We plan travel and events that can be upended by changes in the weather. Homes, terrain and full areas of geography can be devastated and eviscerated by nature’s more extreme events. But mostly we experience varying degrees of warmth and cold that we can prepare for, adjust to and continue to carry out our plans regardless of what the weather is on a particular day.

Enter judgment. We have a tendency to evaluate and identify the “quality” of a particular day, based on the weather. These are sweeping generalizations, but a day that is sunny, bright, not too cold, wet or blustery may earn a label of being “A beautiful day!”

Alternatively, a gray, dark and cold day, one that is frozen over or at least damp with rain droplets and a sky thick with overcast, is likely to earn a label of “A crappy day!”

We even associate our moods with the weather. When chatting with a friend or colleague they will sometimes say “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I am not motivated and don’t feel like doing anything, maybe it is this terrible weather.” Seasonal Affective Disorder is an extreme experience of this dynamic, which is a condition connecting weather to different mood states.

Now, think back to our chat on Equanimity. Recall that Equanimity is the idea that “Everything is allowed to be here.” We can again learn from nature, so much about ourselves. Until recently I didn’t strive for Equanimity and spent decades with a preference for “positive” emotions and experiences, while numbing and avoiding the “negative” ones.

But nature is not so silly as to have preferences about experiences of the weather. If you are following this analogy, you can make the connection that trees don’t let the weather dictate the day for them. They “expect” sometimes rain, sometimes sun, sometimes hurricanes and sometimes rainbows.

There is wisdom to be taken from understanding that “everything is allowed to be here” and that a blade of grass doesn’t gaze at the sky and think “No, please, no rain, no clouds, no snow! I only want sun.” Nature understands that all of it is needed for existence. And we are no different.