Please Let the Wind Carry Me

Monday, the first day of this new week has arrived. Sunlight floods in and the living room is growing warmer.

To combat this day's coming heat, I will roll down the living room's exterior metal blinds and block out the sunlight in total. I will leave them down until late afternoon. I have opened up the same metal blinds on the back side of the apartment which face the large neighborhood courtyard. This common space stays cool until noon. Having no air conditioning I must manage the heat with the tools available to me. 

As the sun burns fiercely back in the courtyard in the early afternoon, I will roll down the metal covers. And later when the temperature drops 25 F degrees, and the strong breezes accompanying it come at twilight, I will throw up all the shades and open all the windows. I will let the cooling wind blow through this place. Every time I do this I hear Let the Wind Carry Me play in my head.

Moving to a place where I don't control the interior weather (my apartment has no air and no heat), I have had to come to terms with the need to adjust my behaviors to the rise and fall of the sun. This means that I shop in the morning long before the sun hits its zenith. I visit the breakfast/brunch cafe when it opens at 8 or 9 in the morning and not at noon. When the afternoon comes I settle into a cool dark space and read or watch a little television. As a result of my move to this golden country, I am now more attuned to the natural rhythms of the day. I rise relatively early, prioritizing errands and conducting my activities in the cooler hours of either the morning or the evening. 

These changes have added discipline and rhythm to my daily routine. I've become more mindful of the natural cycles of the day. Also, I have come to embrace the quiet, reflective moments that come with avoiding the afternoon heat. Oft times you will find me typing things like this midafternoon in a room dark save for the glow of the computer monitor's light. I also appreciate the simple pleasures of life, like the refreshing breeze at twilight and the tranquility of the early morning. 

At first I resisted adapting to the heat, but there was little choice but to submit. The above adjustments have brought a certain mindfulness to my daily routine. You might say I have aligned my activities with the natural flow of the day. One has to learn to live in the world we are given.