Storm and Fury Indicating Something

I woke up several times this morning to a large thunderstorm outside my home. I love thunderstorms - the ones where the wind isn't whipping things into a melee, but the ones where there is thunder and lightning going almost all of the time. There is a random beauty in how the light and sound interact. I fell in love with thunderstorms when I was a camp counselor in the Missouri Ozarks. Out in the woods, by the lake, there was no place to hide from the storms. I learned to appreciate the power of weather when taking shelter under the wooden roof of my platform tent.

When I open my eyes to flashes of light and crashes of sound, I think about this quote from Macbeth... 

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
― William Shakespeare, Macbeth 

I always remember the last part of the quote - "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Storms around here are currently messing with lots of things. There are flash floods, downed power lines, broken fiber optic lines, no internet access (at work - not the best thing when all documentation is now located on the server in an electronic format), winds, and other concerns. The fury contained within the thunderstorm causes lots of complications. This type of storming is not a tale told by an idiot, it is something to take seriously.

Around here, storms are sometimes prolonged, sometimes brief. There are times when the storm conditions last for a couple of minutes. There are times when the storms last for hours and days.

The storm analogy also reminds me of my clients at times.

My clients often explode into storm and fury - a condition that always indicates something, but not what it appears on the surface.

Storm and fury are often part of a strategy, but, in my experience with persons with developmental, intellectual, and psychiatric concerns, storm and fury do not always indicate the emotion of anger. The responses of my clients often do signify something, but not always what is apparent or obvious.

Like our weather conditions, client storm and client fury doesn't always last long, but it can significantly alter the environment. The most important part of any storm is to figure out the conditions that birthed it to begin with. If one of my clients is displaying anger, there is a reason, but that reason is not always the experiences that are happening in the present situation. Extra-musical associations can spur emotional reactions. One word can trigger aggression, hysteria, sadness, and any other emotion that is part of the client's repertoire. It is part of my job to help my clients figure out what is at the root of the storm and to start to address that underlying condition.

The last thought that I have this time around is that like a storm, my clients' emotional states eventually change into something else. After the storm, you assess the environment and repair or make changes to your living patterns. You can either strengthen yourself or change your environment to be able to withstand the next storm.

Off into the literal storms of this morning - have a wonderful day.