A meditation on life’s passing phases

After Summer, the Rains: A Meditation on Life’s Passing Phases

After the scorching  heat of summer, every heart yearns for rain. Thirsty earth, dry air, and tired souls all look up to the sky, waiting for relief. And when the first drops finally fall, there’s collective joy — as if nature has taken a deep breath .

But it’s not long before the very thing we prayed for becomes a source of complaints.

Waterlogging. Traffic jams. Humidity that clings to the skin and makes the air thick.

Human nature is like that — constantly swinging between longing and dissatisfaction. We crave change, and when it arrives, we struggle with its discomforts. What we once saw as a blessing becomes a burden simply because it doesn’t match our ideal version of comfort.

Yet, sitting on the 9th floor of a Mumbai high-rise, watching the rains unfold from a distance offers a pleasurable feeling.From here, it’s not about the puddles or the sweat. It’s about watching clouds roll in like uninvited guests, then pour their hearts out and leave quietly, whatever may we desire that scene of dark clouds to retain their sight, they don’t obey.

There’s a rhythm to it — they come full, heavy, and grey, and then they leave light and empty, making space for sunshine again. That brief moment when the rain stops and light filters through — it’s magical. It reminds us that nothing stays. Not the clouds. Not the sunshine. Not even the discomfort or the joy.

Life is no different.

Every phase — whether stormy or sunny — is temporary. Heartbreaks, celebrations, losses, gains, darkness, healing — all pass through us just like the monsoon clouds. No matter how tightly we try to hold on to a good time, or how desperate we are for a bad phase to end, time moves forward, unconcerned.

We are merely observers on the balcony of life — watching, feeling, learning, and letting go.

The real beauty lies not in clinging to any one season, but in embracing each with awareness. To welcome the rain and its mess. To tolerate the sun and its prickly rays. To stop resisting the flow of life and instead, flow with it.

For like the clouds, everything in life must come, pour what it must, and then go.

And our only task is to witness it — with gratitude.