Dancing in the Rain
I always used to say I’ll be happy when… when I get some free time, when I have more money, when this or that crisis has past. And I sincerely meant it and believed it. If I can just get past this one thing then its all roses coming up!
Then one day I realized things kept happening, life continued to throw challenges my way, and my happiness kept getting postponed. And it dawned on me… at this rate I’ll never be fully happy. So how do I change this? Well when you ask, the universe delivers. One day, when the moment was just right, I saw the following quote:
“Don’t wait for the storms to pass, learn to dance in the rain.”
Ahhhhh! This absolutely struck me as profound. I knew what I had to do. I just found a secret to being happy! I had to learn to dance in the rain! Now don’t get me wrong this isn’t always an easy thing to do. It takes awareness and a continual positive attitude. But this quote has been an absolute gift in my life and I hope it will be a gift in yours too! Life will always be a challenge with many storms to navigate. Each challenge is truly an opportunity for growth and expansion. And how beautiful it is to be able to be in the mist of all kinds of chaos and STILL be able to find happiness and gratitude and joy at all the little things. Because as we all know, these little things can end up being big things.
Back in 2015 I was very suddenly diagnosed with a deadly cancer and was in the hospital starting chemotherapy. I was torn away from my three small children, I was scared out of my mind not knowing if I was going to live or die, and my hair was starting to fall out in clumps… it was, A LOT. I remember thinking that if I could survive this I would be so freaking happy! Then I thought of my favorite quote and it was like opening a gift.
This quote changed the path of my next six months of cancer treatment. I became determined to dance in the rain. I decided to make all the little good things bigger and more powerful than the bad whenever I could. For example, I hated being stuck in that hospital bed while the rest of the world seemingly was free as a bird. So instead of focusing on that (being stuck in the bed) I focused on and celebrated the most beautiful moment in the morning every single day when the sun shone into my room and landed directly on my face for a few minutes. A moment I never would have experienced if I weren’t in that bed. It made me feel loved, hopeful and alive! It was in those moments that I would cry with gratitude for my life and how good it felt to be alive. The sun shining in every morning was a reminder of the hope and promise of a new day. It was a gift I got to celebrate every morning.
Once I found one gift in the midst of the yuck it became easy to find more. Soon every little good part of my day became something to celebrate. This is not to say that I didn’t struggle or have very low moments because I sure did. But I made a point to “dance in the rain” the whole way through and it changed my cancer experience and my life. It was a true GIFT. And I want to share it with you, so don’t forget to dance in the rain! You will always be able to find some sort of “happy” if you keep this in mind.
Marci Lingelbach is a Crystal Reiki Master based in Franklin, TN. Find her online at reikibymarci.com and on IG @reikibymarci.