Sunshine all the time makes a desert.

Sunshine all the time makes a desert. – Arab Proverb

“So what’s the weather going to be like today?” “Same as always, sunny and hot!”

What does that mean?
This is a fairly straight forward quote. If all you have is sunshine, you’re going to have problems with plants life. Water, in the form of rain, is necessary for them to live. Rain, which comes from clouds, sometimes blot out the sun.

Without water, the plants will die, the dirt will blow away, and all that will be left behind is sand and rocks. While there are desert specific plants, the point of the quote is that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

The quote implies that we should appreciate the rain, lest we end up living in a desert. Without the shade of clouds, and their rain, the plants will dry out and die, as will all that rely on the plants for food, shelter or shade. The variety is both useful and necessary.

Why is variety in our lives important?  
This may sound a bit counter intuitive at first, but follow along and see if you don’t agree with me in the end. Winning all the time is bad for you. It’s kind of like having on ly sunshine. Without an occasional loss, how do you know the thrill of victory? Without the occasional setback, how would you know the satisfaction of completion?

I recently told my son that he needed to crank up the difficulty on the chess software he has been using, because he hardly ever loses. Translated, it meant that he was hardly loosing and hardly learning. Defeat can be your best teacher, provided you are willing to learn from it, and survive the experience.

If all you know are sunny days, how will you know the glory and the majesty of the mighty thunderstorms, the awesome power of a hurricane, or the brilliance of an evening display of lightning? Similarly, a variety of life experiences help to smooth you and stimulate you from all directions, rather than just rub you the same way all the time.

Where can I apply this in my life?
To me, this is all about our attitude. This quote, reworded, might sound like this: “into every life a little rain will fall” or “every dark cloud has a silver lining,” right? Unless you are in a desert, you will get a variety of weather.

Even Seattle has an occasional dry day. Even Phoenix gets a little rain every once in a while. What ever weather you like, you’re going to get some of the other kinds of weather every once in a while (and sometimes more often than that). The question is what will you do?

If you don’t like the rain, take shelter. If you don’t like the heat, go someplace with air conditioning. That’s simple enough. What else could you do? You could stand there and whine as you get wet from rain or sweat. It’s your life, and your choice. How do you want to live it?

The question I ask myself any time I notice that I am getting ready to complain about the weather, or anything else, is “How will that help?” If I think that a complaint might help in some manner (like returning an undercooked or overcooked meal), I then give myself permission to discuss the issue with someone.

If I believe that a complaint will do no good, I try not to complain at all. I try to release the frustration and anger and get back to living my life. However, sometimes I find that it can be a little difficult. Sometimes you have to find a friend to talk to and then let rip with your complaints.

I try never to whine, though. That, in my opinion, is not only the least effective way to change things, but also the most annoying way to let others know your opinion. If you catch yourself starting to whine, ask the same question again, “What will whining accomplish?” I believe that if you can be objective, you will curtail and eventually stop whining.

To me, it goes back to the Stoics, the masters of taking life as it comes. They live on in bumper stickers that say “Stuff happens” (or similar wording). They just roll with the punches and keep going with a steady pace, a level head, and a firm hand.

Be flexible and take what life throws at you. Remember to duck from time to time, if something particularly unpleasant (and duck-able) is headed your way. Always keep your attitude as positive as you can manage. Even in the desert, the sun eventually sets, and the heat drops off a little bit.

From: Twitter, @thehrgoddess
confirmed at : http://thinkexist.com/quotation/sunshine_all_the_time_makes_a/193909.html
Photo by John Spooner