I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing like a good morning thunderstorm to make me want to stay in bed.  Starting around 1 a.m. there was a fantastic electrical storm that hit and kept going until 9:30 a.m. or so.  That’s a lot of rain and thunder.  I had my window cracked all night so I could hear the weather as if I was right in the middle of it.  Sometimes storms help me be present in the moment, and I forget that there is a world going on outside of my direct view.  Isn’t that kind of what happens when certain things demand our immediate attention in life…. we forget that less than 45 miles away the sun in shining.  That in a matter of minutes, things can be very different – for better or for worse.  I sometimes wonder, as an individual, is all that really matters right in front of our eyes?  It’s impossible to be aware of everything in the world, no less the universe, but does that still mean we shouldn’t try?  The most healthy practice is probably to do a little of both… take care and nurture your own immediate world, while giving as much energy as often as you can to the greater good.  That means caring for our fellow man and the earth we live off of.  Sometimes it feels amazing to turn off the outside and just go within…. taking in all that is directly in sight.  This morning in my room I felt like the only human being on the planet – just me and the rain.  It was nice to give myself that time to just be.