[ ^ Sweat on my arm…In case you were wondering which body part that is.]

It’s the moist season in Costa Rica right now, especially here in the southern zone. It gets incredibly muggy until the storms come in, breathing out their energy to wash and cool and nourish everything.

I was sitting on the patio after surfing longer than expected and then hiking home along the beach, and I noticed how much I was sweating, which made me conscious of the heat in my face and ears and hands. Sometimes the heat sneaks up on you here, especially on partly cloudy days, when you can really get burned because you think it’s cloudy so you don’t need as much sunscreen. The heat doesn’t quite get your attention until after you’re done playing at the beach, when all the radiation you soaked in starts rising to the surface.

Of course we have no air-conditioning here, and 90+ degrees with 100% humidity isn’t the most comfortable situation, even though I’m well-acclimated to the tropical environment.  And the humidity seems to increase incrementally right up until the clouds turn darker and approach their tipping point for release. The point is signaled when thunder that has been whispering almost subconsciously all afternoon begins raising its voice. The air flickers with atmospheric lightning, blinks from blue to white and back again.

This is when it happens. The breeze. But it’s not just the soft wind – the actual temperature changes too. And this is one of the greatest moments in the day: The short interval between returning from a hot day full of activity and an evening of rain, when the storm exhales its first cool breath onto my still-sweaty skin. It’s like sex, or at least that first focused kiss that sends a buzz through the body. A very sensual experience.

From the first point of contact on my wet skin, the sensation spreads up, down and out, within a second. My skin rapidly transitions from swamp to snow, and a chill rolls through my chest, sides and down arms to the backs of my hands. The pores that were open wells overflowing with sweat have clinched shut and turned to goosebumps. The breeze cools my face and half-naked body.

I recline quietly and focus on what, precisely, this refreshment feels like, and what associations it calls up. After about 15 minutes, my body has reached its new normal, a cooler normal. And I’m still reflecting.

Breeze on sweat is just one example of the perfect interplay between environment and humanity. The universe reminding us that we are in this together. That we play off each other, on multiple levels. Nature equals nurture.

Even just the workings of our bodies link us intricately with our surroundings. From the way our eyes’ pupils dilate and contract to accept the right amount of light, to how our skin reacts appropriately to heat and breeze, to our olfactory senses indicating to us what is and is not edible. We and the universe literally feed off each other.

[ ^ My eye…again, just in case you were wondering what body part that is.]

It happens on a soul level too. A storm’s breeze interacting with my skin causes me to reflect on my life to this point. I think about the heat of stressful life situations that cause me to adjust my activities, and the refreshment that comes with time away from everything. How the universe seems to have aligned in a certain way as to make an offer for change. An offer for a fresh start.

My time here in a different part of the world has been a sort of push-start for me. An initial cool spark that ignited some dormant things and got me rolling in an adjustment direction. But it has been just the start of this re-start experiment.

As such, this will be my last post from Costa Rica for a while. I’m on to the next phase of the experiment. I’m returning to the States for the summer, making some connections, and going from there. Just a month or three at a time for now, all the while watching and listening for options and offers. Seeing if a particular theme starts to develop with recurring offers, things like that. (By the way, I am open to sponsorship offers! 😉 )

But being able to quiet my Self here for the past few months has made me more aware of the whispers of the universe, which includes my own soul. When I reflect on things like the forces of nature and the way my body and mind and spirit react to such forces, I am refreshed, reinvigorated. A little chill that jolts me to attention. We all need that.

I’m not speaking of a vacation, but an awareness adjustment. And I think these moments, events or periods are available to us more than we think. We often just don’t recognize their indicators. Those signals from our body, mind or soul that intersect with signals from outside of us, from our environment, situations or other people. But they’re there, usually waiting quietly until we’re done running around distracting ourselves from the heat simmering underneath. They signal the opportunity to get washed, cooled and nourished.

I can’t tell you how to do it – how to let yourself sweat, sit quietly, and let the Breeze do its thing – but I recommend taking the opportunity.

(I’ll soon tell you the second phase of how I’m doing it.)