Today I am going to be calm and deliberate and enjoy the peaceful sounds of the rain as I work at home on this lazy Sunday. Roger Miller once said, “Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”

It used to be that I just got wet. Rain was an impediment and an inconvenience in my Southern California weather day (yes, it is true – I am not an ND native, born in NY and then spent a good thirty plus years in So Cal – try not to hold it against me – I am a recovering Californian). Plus, rain in So Cal – and I mean a real rain storm – is a fairly significant weather event for most decidedly un-rugged So Cal folks. Today, it is laughable to me having experienced the full range of North Dakota weather, but back then I was right in there with them trying to get through the big weather event – rain.

My appreciation of rain has come over time. Today as I watch the last drops taper off I am reflecting on rain’s value as a source of renewal and life. But I don’t think that an appreciation or affection for rain was all that Roger Miller was talking about. I believe Roger also intended to convey that it is all about one’s perception or frame-of-reference. Deep stuff Roger.

This semester I am teaching one of my favorite classes, Disaster Preparedness, and this is the class where I challenge my students to change their frame-of-reference to be better able to address some of the challenges that exist in this area. On my syllabus I have a Wayne Dyer quote, “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.” I like that quote because it challenges us to recognize that our perception of a situation dictates our response or reaction. Being able to change the way one views things can result in a paradigm shift that may reveal completely different responses and reactions to the exact same stimuli. Indeed, it is akin to a prior blog on the difference between being humbly grateful and grumbly hateful.

And so I sit here and the air is cooler than it has been for a few days and the birds are all out on the lawn looking for worms chirping away at their good fortune, and I know that somewhere along my journey I came to appreciate that rain is a lovely thing that I enjoy and am grateful for. Indeed, somewhere along my journey I changed the way I looked at things and while others may be lamenting the gloom of a rainy day I rejoice in it. I choose to walk in the rain; but, depending upon how you view the world, you may see me as “all wet”. 🙂

Day forty-two of the new forty – obla di obla da

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