Letting the Storm Pass

A poem about learning to let your feelings come and go without judgement.

I gaze outside my window and lose myself in the pouring rain: the way the droplets of water bounce off the rooftops, the steady roar of thunder, and the ominous, overcast expanses that unfold before me. I think of how the rain falls without judgement — how the storm makes itself known without a second thought.

The storm rages, but eventually dissipates without guidance or direction, and that is how my feelings come and go as well. Sometimes, my thoughts are like thunder: negative, loud, and intrusive, or even muddy and stagnant like a puddle that develops during a storm. Other times, my thoughts are like a clear, blue sky on a day at the beach — filled with weightlessness and hope.

Each of these thoughts, I’ve recognized, are neither good nor bad, but they are all necessary. I no longer admonish myself when I fixate on something that has once caused me pain. I simply allow myself to feel, and then move along. I notice that my thoughts are less persistent when I allow them their allotted time in the spotlight. And they do not argue when the curtain eventually falls.