perspective

I hoped for rain the other day. The forecast called for several mm's but when I woke up, the clouds weren't as dark as they are when it's about to rain. Twenty minutes later there were patches of blue in the sky as the sun poked through and my spirits fell. That's when I realized how much our environment affects our perspective.

Growing up in the city, I disliked rain. And reasonably so: what's the benefit of rain in an urban area? It's depressingly grey outside, you have to carry an umbrella with you all day and your hair gets frizzy from the humidity. The only perk is that the rain cleans off your car, if you have one.

But in the places I've been lately, a good rain can mean that your fruit trees thrive. It can mean that your vegetable plants survive. It means that your water tank fills up a little more as we head into the dry summer. And it means that you don't have to manually water the garden that day!

It's incredible how much weather affects you when you choose to live close to the land - when popping over to the supermarket isn't a viable option because of distance and food values, and when your water supply is a sole tank that is filled by the rain run off from your roof. In some ways it's a riskier way of living, a way of life where there aren't easy solutions to daily problems.

But it's also a way that connects you with the land and with the sources of your health and well being where you are thoughtful and careful with your resources because you know that they are precious and limited.