How to keep warm despite erratic weather patterns.

How to keep warm despite erratic weather patterns.

I flew from the sunny, seventy-four degree weather in San Diego, yesterday, to the bone-chilling, single-digit temperatures and eight inches of snow in Lansing, Michigan. When I stepped off the plane, I had nary a pashmina on over my lightweight clothing. It was a radical shift in external temperature. Even if I had tried to anticipate it, it seemed—most certainly—to be a recipe for extreme discomfort. 

Yet, I experienced none.

As I traveled through the substantial atmospheric contrast, it prodded me to recognize that whether it be physical or emotional external temperature through which we may travel, our vast majority of preparedness takes place internally.

Just like navigating through a world of other people’s fickle sentience—be it emotional rain, shine, tornado or tsunami—nurturing our own internal sentient temperature of how we feel allows us to witness other’s storms, have compassion, and help without getting too caught up inthem or damaged by them. 

Disembarking from my trip, I realized that I had gone straight from taking the warmth of a soul-nourishing meditation on the plane, to the friendliness of the airport, to a toasty awaiting car, and finally, on to my inviting destination. While airborne, I had quieted my mind, gotten present, and connected to my own inner voice. I, then, stoked the embers of all that I wanted for my life to come. I listened to music that lit me up. I reveled in the unfettered time I had to myself. I basked in the knowing that anything and everything was possible. By the time I walked off the plane, the sun of source energy—that we all share, to which we each have access—was burning, glowing, growing so prominently within me, that the surrounding—frigid—contrast didn’t bother me one bit. 

If we take the time to stoke our own internal embers of presence, connectedness, desire and belief in the possibility of all things, we will move through this world with our own sun: A giant ball of warmth, of energy, to feed ourselves and shine on everyone around us. 

Safe, warm and happy travels.