SUNSHINE AURA – poetry. short stories. community.

They’re always telling you about the calm before the storm. But what about the calm after?

The calm that shows up once the billowing winds have passed. Once the lightning dissipates, its energy flowing back into the sky to gather and strike another time.

There’s moisture left behind in the air. Wet and cool, brushing over your exposed cheeks and leaving behind supple, hydrated skin. Reminding you of water’s power to destroy and heal.

Around you, power lines crackle and fray. Gigantic trees rooted to the spot years before your ancestors ever arrived, tossed aside like fake flora on a 3D train set. Leftover waters flow down the streets and ditches, routed by city planners pleased with the efficacy of their drainage designs.

The calm is accompanied by destruction.

Destruction that needs to be cleaned up. Put back together again. Righted.

The same thing happens inside the human mind and heart. The calm after the storm.

Although these storms don’t take place in the world around you. They take place in the world inside you. Hurricanes of the mind. Tornadoes brought on by an argument with another. Earthquakes when you are faced with change, causing a seismic shift in what once was steady ground in your mind.

Both leave you breathless and overwhelmed. Wondering, how could I possibly pick up the pieces and rebuild?

Rebuild. Restore. Reform.

But is it best to recreate what once was? Or to reinvent?

And I guess that answer is yours alone to make. Do you rebuild the fabric of your mind in the traditional style? Or do you make something entirely new?

But before you even begin to answer such questions, you must feel the calm. You must take a deep breath and sit with it. Appreciate the storm – the all-powerful storm – has ended. Probably not gone forever, but gone for now.

And now is all you need. Now is the only time period you need to experience.

The calm in the now.