I had started to more or less apologize for the vulgarism, but explain that "pissed off" identifies exactly the mood I am in. I am mentioning this in an educational way. I like to alert people to how much we are affected by this weather. I'll just bypass the unease we all have about the many weather disasters happening, the big drought in the southwest US, the fires, the heat waves. We have the feeling we don't know what's about to happen, which is exactly right.
August is a horrid month for many sensitive people, worse than February, and this year July is acting like August, except for the harvests, which are being killed off by the heat and drought. Of course I'm talking US here, and I know some readers are not in our latitude, is it? Not in our climate. Hello Great Britain - you have your own problems now, but a marvelous scandal to take your mind off them (Goodbye, Rupert Murdoch). August is high summer, which means the yang that brings summer in is decaying. This is awful. Add to that the truth of the ancient medical theories that the hours of the day are ruled by different organs and elements in succession. What that means here is that roughly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. are The Hours of Fire. (I wish I had a really wild font for that.)
Fire is an apt description for the high energy, the anger and restlessness and pain this can bring to us. Maybe not you. If you're an earth or water person, you may feel more energized, brighter, maybe you benefit from some fire. But I am a Vata-Pitta (Ayurvedic system), air-fire. Mostly Vata, the thin-boned artistic type, which is easily unbalanced and inflamed by getting too "hot." Yow.
The truth of this came home to me half an hour ago as I sat in the cool dim (which I cultivate) at my dining room table doing my weekly pills. This is about a one-hour job demanding concentration. It always generates tasks like seeing a doctor or getting a refill or updating the med list. I did not have a bad attitude about it when I began. But then I noticed I was mad at someone who was not in the room. You know what I mean. Then at something that might happen. What had happened to my quiet, pleasant mood? What time is it? I asked. Ten-thirty, Tom said. I knew it! Fire rising.
I just feel that part of my task in life is to elevate Westerner's awareness of the energies all around us. We are deeply conditioned to believe we are individuals who determine our own destiny and attitude. Well, what nonsense. We are connected profoundly to other energies of many kinds. You know this. You've been places that felt all wrong. If you were the scapegoat in an alcoholic family, you may have noticed that you felt depressed around the group, as if subtly you were being beaten - and you were, by their mental energies. (Why would the electric storm of the brain stop at your skin?) If you've done spiritual practice, and maybe if you haven't, you've been around people you feel good around, people you might say have a nice presence. And then there's more interesting psychic experiences, which almost everyone has had at some time.
So, beware of high summer and especially the hours of fire. They appear again at 10 pm to peak at midnight. Alcohol intensifies fire, no matter if it's in a frozen drink or not. Bright lights, loud music, a bunch of fired-up people - these things make it more and more. I know some people seek that out. Pay money to be in exciting fiery places. I know. I just hope they're not my grandson.
Meanwhile, if you want to stay cooler, avoid spicy foods and midday sun. Keep your blinds drawn. Wear your blue sunglasses. Be cool.
[The photo is me wearing mine. It was taken several years ago. I have a better haircut now.]
~~~~~
p.s. Hello, Emma and Lola. Every person that joins this site encourages me to keep on being crazy honest.
Oh DG, I do not envy you in the slightest. And though we are experiencing nothing like your weather, I am VERY sensitive to the heat. Now I always thought spicy food was a good thing to eat in the heat...hmmm. Along with tea. Hmmm some more. Perhaps I have got that all wrong. Rupert Murdoch? Well, I'm keeping out of it. My mind is on those who need it a little more right now. I like your photo! Keep cool as much as you can :-) P
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about this too (being of the fiery constitution myself, as you know). I've been thinking of how everyone has a time of year they "hate". Or maybe it's only the fiery among us that work up to hating the season...anyway, I digress....I've been framing it in my mind to have to negotiate with the seasons (and other external factors that put us out of balance). So you and I can hold hands with winter, tra la la...but in summer...well if I hate summer I'm adding to the heat. So here we are summer...we have to hang out together...so how what can we do to at least get along? So far this year, Summer's answer has been to be increasingly annoying. So it's up to me I guess. I've been trying to go to bed earlier...after a certain point (mid-night?) I feel like I could easily stay up reading all night long. And unlike mad dogs and Englishmen...I try and stay out of the noon day sun! Negotiations are tough this year...but I'm working on it. Love the cool blue shades!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've also learned that I'd better get to sleep by 11:30, or I will be up for an hour or more eating the worst foods in the house. I have a sort of dream of going by the sun, getting drowsy when it gets dark - but that would mean letting it get dark, no artificial light and no screens, TV or computer. Maybe on retreat.
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