Dissipating Stormy Moods with Love

I woke up yesterday on the wrong side of the bed, and that experience looked different than it used to for me. I’m very sensitive now, more aware of the moving energy we call emotion, so I had an awareness of feelings of off-ness, agitation, irritability, and fatigue. There was a desire to remain in bed. Nothing in particular was going on. No new responsibilities, no new problems—just “inner weather.” It was also a rainy day yesterday, which is what’s inspiring me to share this advice.

What Is Inner Weather?

When I interviewed Tracee Ellis Ross and Rhonda Ross for my podcast New Growth on the Be Here Now podcast network, we talked about these moods that come seemingly uncaused, with Tracee referring to them as inner weather.

Sometimes you can point to a cause for stormy moods and sometimes you can’t, but either way, it’s weather happening inside, just like weather happens outside. Some days it’s sunny and clear, and other days it’s gray and cloudy. Some days you wake up feeling sunny and clear, and other days you might wake up sleepy, groggy, overwhelmed, anxious, or fearful, but you can’t do anything about that.

(Note: It’s not even your fear that you're feeling! And it’s not your anxiety. You’ve tuned in to human fear, picking up ancient thoughts and feelings of survival, and have claimed them as your own. You can just as easily tune in to divine love. You can just as easily tune into silence, or stillness, or even the sound of God’s name.)

How to Deal with Inner Weather

One of the dangers we run into in the so-called “self-help” arena is the conundrum of trying to make the body-mind feel better and make your character feel better. Thinking I have to get out of this mood, out of this funk ultimately creates more tension. Our work is to see through the storm and know that the storm couldn’t be any other way. There’s so much power in that. When I woke up yesterday, for a few seconds the thought came, “Ugh, I don’t want to feel like this. I know this feeling and I don’t want to feel this way.”

But I intentionally got up and did my spiritual practice, even though I wasn’t feeling blissful about it. And I did my responsibilities: I recorded for my podcast, wrote in my journal, and went to work, writing and taking Zoom calls all day. At about five or six o’clock, that stormy energy was still present within me. I was very aware that it was not a sunny day, but I also recognized that the storm inside couldn’t be any other way.

While I, Nikki, was showing up stormy, while Nikki was experiencing a rainy day, the clouds were there, but so was Love, still shining. I was feeling and being Love while the storm was blowing through Nikki—not trying to shift Nikki out of feeling sad or low or tired, but just recognizing the Love that’s there, also. Seeing through the storm, seeing through the clouds to Love. That’s it—that’s all I did. And by eight o’clock that night, I got some of the best news all month. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence; nothing is. I stayed with the practice. I stuck with it.

A Practice to Observe Your Inner Weather

That’s major, because if you came up in the era of the early Law of Attraction teachings like I did, you’d think that feeling bad means you’re attracting bad things. If you’re feeling negative, expect negativity. Inner storms bring about outer storms. While this line of thought isn’t destructive in the way you may have been taught (as thought has no power), it can be distracting. “Bad” moods come and go. “Good” moods come and go. But what sees them coming and going? What is aware of the changes in the weather, in pressure, in the sunshine or seeming lack thereof? You.

(Spoiler: Even when it appears to be night, the sun is still shining; even when it’s cloudy, the sun is still here.) The way your body feels and the moods that come and go have no effect on what you are or what you’ll appear to manifest in a future-now.)

So, your practice is to see any mood, even if it’s caused by just a minor annoyance, as inner weather. You’ll see it come, you’ll see it go. And while it is present, it could not be any other way. Your only job in that moment is to stop yourself from making the person that you think you are feel better; just feel for Love. You could even ask yourself, Is love here, too? The storm is here; the pain, upset, or worry is here; but can I feel love too? Feel Love while the storm is happening. That’s it.

If a thought about the past comes, remember that it couldn’t have happened any other way. If a thought about something you said (or wish you would’ve said but didn’t) comes, remind yourself, That couldn’t have happened any other way. What was said was exactly the only thing that could’ve been said in that moment.

Remember these words; remember what I’m saying. And the next time you feel upset, which will happen today, remember that this moment couldn’t be any other way. The storm is here. I don’t have to do anything about that, but I do have to be awake enough to be who I really am while the storm is happening.

Examples of the Impact of Observing Inner Weather

I was on a flight recently, and the announcement for the initial descent had just been made. I’m usually an aisle girl, but I was seated by the window, looking out over a thick layer of clouds beneath the plane. We were flying into New York, and I was trying to peer through the clouds to see exactly what part of the city we were over, hoping to recognize some of the buildings, waiting to see the ground. But there were so many clouds. I was super attentive, just waiting, watching, blinking only when necessary, almost holding my breath, waiting to be able to peek through the clouds to see what was there.

This made me smile because I recognized that my spiritual practice is just like this—seeing through my inner clouds, waiting to become aware of the ground: the Love that I truly am. So, I peered through the clouds that were obstructing the city and the skyline, and then finally there appeared an opening, and I could see: We were coming in over the Statue of Liberty. And I said and felt, “Ahh, freedom. Freedom.”

Another airport example: I was about to miss an international flight back home, and I remember stopping, closing my eyes for a second, and just seeing through that frustration and anxiety until I could feel the Love that I am again. And, of course, I got on the flight and got to where I was going without missing a beat.

How to Break Through Stormy Inner Weather

Stop in whatever moment you’re in that’s stressful. For me, the act of breaking through stormy inner weather is like listening. I’m listening for the feeling of Love in the chaos, in the stress. And there It is. Or sometimes I can feel a pit in my stomach, that feeling you get when you’re on a rollercoaster—that’s the same kind of feeling I have when I’m anxious. And I can become aware of the stormy weather within me like it’s a ball of energy, while simultaneously feeling into the space that’s next to it. Comfort is right next to the discomfort. Bliss is right there next to and even pervading the pain.

Look again. Feel again. Is love here too? And in the silence, you feel the yes. You feel the discomfort in your chest or stomach, and then you'll become aware of the space that’s surrounding it. You’ll find that space free and open and airy and full of Love. Love isn’t being drowned out by the density of your inner weather. The density of inner weather is happening in and as Love, too, but it’s harder to know that and see that. So just feel into the space right next to it, and there’s the Love. And then that density dissolves. It turns back into Love. This works for physical pain, too—you feel the pain, and then feel for what’s right next to it. It couldn’t be any other way.

You couldn’t be anywhere else. But I still thank you for being here. I love you!

Know that where you are right now is where you are meant to be. You couldn’t be anywhere else doing anything else. Your purpose is to wake up to Love in the midst of whatever your present life circumstances are. No matter how challenging they are, because, as Dr. Bruce Davis says, “Love found in the midst of great difficulty, is Love found forever.” And I’m living proof!

You are built for this. God chose you. Step into it. Know this, feel this, smile, and be Love.

Adapted and excerpted from the forthcoming book Wake Up to Love: Meditations to Start Your Day by Nikki Walton. Copyright © 2024 by Nikki Walton. To be published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.