Sometimes, I spend a long time figuring out what positive affirmation I will use for my weekly card. And sometimes, it’s obvious. This week, everything brought me to pick this line. It may seem a bit awkward to use as it is but, to me, it’s a very positive and inspirational affirmation. But I need to tell you a story first.

So, I was living my everyday life, while people came to me telling me how drained they felt, or tired, or nervous. I, for once, felt really peaceful, rested and anchored. All I felt was serenity actually. So I started to pay more attention to what was going on around me… How come I wasn’t on the same emotional level? I am quite empathetic so I could feel the tension they genuinely felt, the tiredness and there was a huge contrast with my own emotional state. And yes, there was something in the air. it was electrical, windy… a storm was about to burst… As winds were blowing harder, I could feel their effect on people (and trust me, there is a huge effect on kids….), as if the stormy weather reflected on them, or affected them. I, on the other hand, was just watching it, feeling nothing unusual. I love storms, they appease me…. anyway, I was thinking about all this and what I could learn from it when a friend of mine shared this quote:

They whispered to her « You are cannot withstand the storm ».

She whispered back « I am the storm ».

I smiled, and went on with my life, as usual. I know this quote, I encountered it numerous time and it always brings me a smile. I love it. It really reflect what I feel most of the time.

Then I was doing some researches on different subjects (philosophy, anthropology, mythologies, slavic languages, music, zentangle, work things too… anything, really). And all brought me back to the storm. So I took the time to look deeper into what the word ‘storm’ meant to me, how I could relate to it, and how I could use it in my weekly card.

When you think about a storm, the first thing that comes to your mind is this apocalyptic weather that destroys everything. So how can such a disaster be something positive? Well… I have the luck to live with an ongoing storm within. This is why the younger me was known as the ‘apocalyptic one’. With time, I learned to contain it, to express through art, writing, sport, anything really to let the steam get out of my mind and body. But it was still there, within, at the core, boiling. This is my nature. I am passionate. I am determined to achieve what I feel I have to do, whatever obstacle gets on my way, I get rid of it. I am the storm. And I don’t see myself as a disaster. Most of the time haha.

To me storms are energizing. They are pure energy I can collect in order to cleanse, to heal, to empower. Watching storms makes me feel alive. And humble. I love the sound of thunder, lightnings dividing the sky, the sound of rain pouring, the smell of a storm makes me shiver… I never feel more peaceful actually than when I watch a storm raging. I can feel the electricity in the air, which brings me awareness, I can smell the coming rain, I can feel the winds growing like a warning about what is coming. A bit like a ritual to get you ready to face the storm, to get you find a safe place, to get you ready to let go of what you don’t need emotionally as the storm will take it away. When the storms burst, I love to think about it as a balance between my inner stormy self and the world around me. I feel good, energized, in peace, at home. I can really feel their strength, their power, and they inspire me a lot of respect.

So this week, a storm was coming. And at the same time, my attention was drawn to the element air. Wind blew some things on my windshield, I could hear the sound of it at night, very strongly, temperatures dropped drastically for a day because of northern winds, I focused on wind instruments (more than usual), on the sound of breath taking in tunes I love (headphones really helped though), I played whistle with a new energy, focusing on my breath. And I felt good. Really good. It wasn’t only breathing and winds, it also was vibration. The last week, my attention really was focused on vibrations, all kind of vibration. I am really sensitive to drums. It may remind me of thunder. I really feel vibrations as I do with the air just before a storm bursts. My body reacts as if it was touched by it, and attunes itself to the rhythm. The simple sound of drums in a music can lead me to a whole different universe. When I meditate, I have a playlist based on those rhythms and does it take me places and times I never thought to reach! I came to realize that it was it, the vibration, that made me fall in love with storms. My heart beat adjust to it, and that’s why I feel so appeased. Same with music. Drums make me fall in love, deeply. Same with everything. You see, to me, air, through breath, wind and vibrations, is inspiration.

On an even more symbolic way, my creativity can take the form of a storm. No matter the realm it strikes, ideas and words come rushing into paper, or on my computer screen. They just jump in my mind and I do what I can to express them, to materialize them. It’s a mess, they usually have no link between each other, they just need to be put on paper… But it’s always an interesting and learning process to find the message, to try to get some structure, to organize and actually make something out of it. And when I can do it, I really get this feeling of achievement. I love the way it just goes from a complete mess to something appeased, structured, meaningful to me. The rush, the materialization and then the peace. Definitely stormy behavior….

As I said, I have a storm boiling within. Most of the time, I contain it, and it helps me create and react, and everything is fine… But sometimes, when confronted to injustice, or to toxic people, I open a little safe device… and let some of the steam go… I raise my vibration, and get ready for a storm of my own…. I am not afraid to bring chaos if needed. As I said earlier, it feels home. As I am led by empathy and strong values, my energy is focused on unveiling what is really going on, manipulations of any kind of deceiving behaviors, and my determination to do so gets rid of any obstacle… I am the storm.

So yes, to me, storms are powerful masters of creation and truth. As lightnings, my inspiration strikes, unexpected, powerful. This is why I always have something to take notes in my bags. Like storms, ideas collide, expand, burst into reality. As I am really lucky, it can touch different realms of my life. It can be a project for school, it can be something for my apartment, something I need to do, something I want to do, something related to someone else, anything, truly. Then I can make the choice to bring it into reality, or to let it grow within, among other mini storms ready to burst too.

So yes, I am the storm. And I love the paradox I see here: external storms make me feel peaceful, brings me serenity, while internal storms keep shaking me, pushing me further, deeper, higher. And between the two of them, I am standing, enjoying the show.