Although I love words, today I can think only in images.  It is rainy, the sky is gray, the ground is muddy, and the air is heavy with humidity.  My animals are snoozing, which is what we all should do on such days.  Mother Nature is moody today, and all I want to do is paint her portrait. I love days like today.  I love sunny days, too, but gloomy days are cozy, hunker down days.  We do what we must but no more, minimizing our time in the dreary outdoors.

Anyone over the age of two knows what it is like to have an off day, a personally gloomy day (even if the sun is shining).  Many of us have endured gloomy periods due to illness, job loss, divorce, or the death of a loved one.  Such periods often feel as if the sun has set forever.

There is no magic way to get through these dark times, but it certainly includes a measure of retreat, and whenever possible, immersing in extreme self care:  read a mindless magazine, sip tea, listen to your favorite music.  Do nothing.  Or take a page from my pets, snuggle up and nap.

Eventually, a tiny crack in the clouds appears, allowing just enough sun to peek through.  Like a bear awakening after a long winter slumber, we peek our heads outdoors, reawakening to our lives.  We have endured the clouds and the mud, we fortified ourselves, and now it is time to open our eyes to the rest of our lives.

Cloudy days, literally and metaphorically, serve great purposes if we allow them.  Today Mother Nature is painting only in grays and browns, but I know tomorrow's canvas will have broad brush strokes of green, blue and yellow.  She knows what she is doing.  We do, too, if we quiet ourselves enough to listen.

When you have dark clouds overhead, have a good hunkering, and an even better awakening.  The crack will get wider, letting ever more light through.  That is when you will know to change paint colors.