Monday 4 April 2022

It's Only Rain, At The End Of The Day

'coincidence is god's way of remaining anonymous' 

I'm sure that's what I heard him say.

That one line made more sense to me as a fantastic day at the Siemens Crystal building drew to a close.

Last saturday, I attended the 'Waves of Change Peace and Sustainability Forum' at the aforementioned building, and the event itself was an enjoyable day packed with eye-opening presentations, workshops and heartfelt plea's about moving things forward in the name of inner peace and socio-economic sustainability. 

But that's only half the story I want to share here. 


In effect, it started a few days earlier when I'd been sitting on the invite in my email inbox, and couldn't decide wether to go or not. After all, it meant wrapping up whatever I needed to do in my office earlier on a friday, in order to hit the road in good time for the drive to london. It also meant having to book a hotel, and pack a small overnight..etc. 


In essence I was procrastinating, and I sort of 'knew' I had to go. I couldn't explain it, but I just 'knew' . 


I have a healthy amount of cynicism towards one-day workshops and travelling for them, with the related overnight palavers, because quite a number of them have seemed to be more effort to attend, than the value of the day ( and the experiences gained) itself.


But some strange things happened here. 


Some of them are little things, such as my getting a room far above the busy roadside( and its noise..essential to a good night's sleep) without having to ask for it , as well as realising that i'd forgotten my phone charger, yet the receptionist had a veritable smorgasboard of plugs and cables for me to choose from. 


She was also very polite and accomodating. I can remember saying to her as I was checking out, that she had a lot of peace about her, and a lot of light in her eyes. I also remember apologising to her as I was leaving , as I didn't want it look as if I was needlessly gawping at her, because I wasn't. I was just kind of struck by her energy or aura. 

But the biggest oddity of the day, happened on the way back. 


As I left the building, I strolled for a while near the docks. I then started walking back towards the hotel to pick up my car and hit the road for the journey home. I stopped halfway and thought 'hang on...I'm sure i wanted to talk to so-and-so about the music-related-gig idea that was brought up for world peace day?'. 


And as I stood there, a loud inner-voice literally said to me 'keep walking and don't worry about that!'


I stopped in my tracks, thinking 'what was that?!' for a few seconds and walked onwards at a brisk pace. Besides, the sun was shining, the sky was a clear, azure-like blue and I thought that it was such a perfect end to a great day. 


As I got closer to my car,  I plipped the central locking button, opened the door and got inside. My usual modus operandi, is to reach for the seatbelt and press the console to select a cd or radio station as accompaniment for the journey. It's almost automatic; like a set of movements and motion sequences.


But within 15 to 20 seconds, there was a complete change of weather. 


I literally sat back in astonishment and laughed. The downpour was torrential. I didn't even see it start, and it was like a blast from the heavens at full velocity.

It was as if someone somewhere was sitting there with their finger on a button, and I was akin to some sort of computer game character who was being nudged along ( think late 80's / early 90's sideways scrolling arcade adventure type games), and the minute I was under cover and safe, the rain-machine was switched on to full pelt. 

I felt like I'd witnessed and been a part of some sort of miracle and learning. I guess I needed it most at that particular time. 


I'd been in a bit of a funk for a number of days, with all sorts of delays and obstacles in my personal & professional life just getting me down. But as usual I kept soldiering onwards, cause that's how it is; the age old belief that if you keep ploughing on, you'll get there. However, sometimes it can also feel like wading through an obstacle course, sapping your inner strength and resolve in the process of trying to finish the work.


I guess I'd forgotten to take a breather for long enough to take stock and reassess a few things. And my motivation was drifiting along in some odd, random fits and starts; akin to brownian motion.


And that was the miracle for me. The fact that due to some odd quirk of fate or chance I ended up going to the event, then had an unusually smooth hotel experience, the journey there ( and back) was fine, the day itself was fantastic and I was finally mysteriously 'shunted along' to get to my car, which protected me from an allmighty soaking. 


In essence, there may well have been other strange occourances that happened during the day that I may not have picked up on as yet; I'll know with time, if they were important and part of the whole experience. In effect, I felt remakably revitalised and refreshed all the way home, and well into sunday afternoon.


I'm sharing this because I think we all get so wrapped up in our daily lives, with their minutiae and complexities, that anything which can break the flow and is away from our normal run of choices should be seen as a tonic, rather than a disruption to our schedules and routines.


Looking back, I felt the rain at the end struck a powerful chord . Like most people, I'm not a huge fan of the rain, which I see as a short-cut to getting needlessly unfurled and sodden. It can be one step away from a miserable, head-hunkering cold or flu. 

But the rain matters. 


It helps cool things down. It gives life and nourishment to flora and fauna. And the rain is also nature's way of washing the grime and patina of life away. It refreshes us too, in it's own way, and jolts us out of complacency. 

That's certainly what it felt like to me. It was one of a handful of occasions where I sat and laughed at the rain. 


And I'm still laughing at the memory right now.


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