Where Wind Blows

The wind is a kind of symbol of change and impermanence. We seem to have many metaphors for it, pertaining to direction, to time and to general chaos, depending on how one construes the wind. I remember a friend from long ago once saying that people sometimes yell at the wind as though it were a person. And hasn't the wind often been personified as such in old children's drawings?
  "Being tossed about" by the wind is not the way to go, and we often hear stories about people literally being carried away by winds. Whether they symbolize passions, or just change of circumstances, such sayings position stability in the feet, on the ground, and where gravity pushes us downward on a level path. Having too many directions to go in is often seen as a sign of danger, especially reflecting old sailor's stories. So finding one's ground and being rooted somewhere is a reflective turn that counterbalances getting lost or overly torn from one desire to another.
   On the other hand, sometimes wind energies can be internalized in the form of flexibility, or the ability to bend with the wind. The strongest trees are more or less able to bend with the wind rather than trying to hold a rigid position against it. When circumstances change, one needs to know when to go along with it and not necessarily cherish outdated ideas about the self and its priorities. Wind can mean a willingness to trust unknown forces of change and give into their mysterious powers and dislocations, rather than always desperately trying to stake a certain ground. Contemplating these metaphors of "wind" and "ground" could be one way to navigate unfamiliarity without being overly rigid , on the one hand, or overly distracted on the other.