Get buried in a cotton bag!
What’s the difference between a storm in a teacup and a storm in the sky?
The phrase ‘a storm in a teacup’ means a lot of fuss about nothing. Overreaction. Turmoil over trivia. Making a mountain out of a molehill.
Humans are good at that.
You’ve lost the car keys? Time for a tantrum.
The toddler stuffs mashed potato between his toes? Time for a tirade.
A teenager whizzes past too close on a skateboard? Time for a public lecture on the uselessness of youth today.
The cost of funerals going up? Time for a dinner table rant that will turn food to ashes in the mouths of those who have to sit and listen to you.
Just storms in teacups.
You’ll find the keys. Mashed potato washes off. That teenager will mature. Choose the cheaper option - get buried in a cotton bag.
Storms in teacups raise your blood pressure and make your complexion blotchy. Storms in teacups upset people you live with. Storms in teacups do more harm than good and turn
you into a person who’s not nice.
It’s wintertime where I live. There’s a storm coming. Winds from the north push dark purple clouds in a curving billow towards me. It’s getting darker, more threatening. Soon the whole sky is one big menace. No light breaks through. These clouds have serious business to perform.
The winds increase their speed and whack our wooden house. It creaks. Fretful branches slap at windows. I stand at the kitchen sink and watch rain fall on distant coastal hills. Not straight down, but at an angle, harried by the whipping wind. Within minutes it’s drumming on our roof, gurgling down drainpipes, turning the wall of windows into panes of streaming water.
Puddles form in the garden, down the driveway and on the grass. The clouds grow thinner as their burden of water falls. The sounds of rain lessen until all that’s left is the heavy drip-drip from the trees.
The storm is over.
It’s rinsed the heavens, sweetened the air and filled another few inches in the water tank. This storm has been a good thing. A useful event. Unlike our silly storms in teacups, which serve no useful purpose at all.
Living with mindfulness
Watch yourself throughout the day.
Notice what upsets you.
You’ll probably find that most things that get your annoyed attention are just storms in teacups.
With love, Marlane
First published on Medium.com/Illumination