It is raining and cold in Burbank - again. The forecast is for this to pretty much be what it will be for at least the next week. 

We are also experiencing high numbers of people with respiratory viruses that last for 2 - 3 weeks. This weather keeps encourages lots of staying in bed and sleeping but ... it also results in mental and emotional depression.

It is a very challenging time for those of us living in most of the United States actually. I say this because I have dared to watch the national weather recently. 

So, how to be ok.

For me, the path to peace is acceptance because I certainly have no power whatsoever over the weather!!   My mantra for now is:

It Is What It Is

The path to peace, for me, is to recognize when I start to clench my jaws and to consciously choose to slow my breath down as I gently release them. Slow breaths allow me to expand my chest and abdomen on the inhale and allow me to softly whisper as I exhale:

It Is What It Is

 ...

This is an invitation rather than a challenge.

As a child, my father was stationed at Walker AFB, New Mexico (Roswell). And before you wonder, it was well after the UFO's landed so that was not the way I arrived on the planet (though others often doubt that)!  

I remember that my mother and her friends wore dresses or skirts most of the time. My mother had beautiful thick, dark red hair. I was five as I stood near her in our front yard as she chatted with a neighbor. The attention of the woman turned to me. I was an extremely shy and quiet child. My mother never shamed me for that; she simply accepted me. That day, I moved closer to her and stood almost behind her. She silently took the side of her full skirt and wrapped it around me, letting me hide in the folds of her dress. I felt safe.

Over time I learned to come out of my shell, to be social in spite of my innate shyness. I loved meeting people and going new places but it took effort to relax into those...