Every aspect of life, no matter how big or small, impacts our personality and state of mind. Relationships we have with our family, friends, and the environment can be great examples. Nature is one of the concepts that influence us the most, physically and emotionally. Weather, in particular, has the ability to evoke various emotions in people. Rain, wind, snow, and thunder can generate  positive feelings in some, while some of us can view them as sources of stress, fear, or anxiety.

 

  When we look around the world we can see that rain is one of the more significant weather conditions that affect mood, probably since it occurs the most. Rain has been used extensively in art, music, and literature, becoming an important metaphor of various sentiments and ideas. While sometimes it represents tears, it can also be interpreted as the refreshing presence of hope and life that arise from loneliness or gloom. Have you ever wondered why rain is particularly used by artists, musicians, and even scientists to explore emotions?

 

  The effect of rain on human emotions is mostly related to the intensity of the weather condition, aside from the time of the day it happens. Raindrops can also evoke memories by mimicking similar situations in the human brain, recalling the impressions they have previously created in the soul. While a drizzle of rain can have a calming effect, a downpour can cause fear and anxiety. In the summer, a quick shower that takes away the dust and dirt from the air can awaken a sense of refreshment, and may not even frustrate those caught in the downpour. However, someone who experienced a depressing and ominous event in a summer rain during childhood may still feel melancholic every time it rains in the summer. 

 

  The meeting of raindrops with the Earth can have a highly personal effect on human emotions. Scientific findings also help explain our feelings about rain, such as the sound of rain serving as a natural source of white noise. White noise is a sound created by the random combination of sound waves at different frequencies. It helps calm the mind by blocking out other distracting sounds. The sound of rain is a natural sound that can be used for meditation, as it relaxes people and calms the mind. Because rain is a natural sound, the human brain recognizes it as familiar and safe, which helps people relax and concentrate.

 

  Rain can also be used as an indicator of romance in films, novels, songs, and poetry. Rainy weather is usually cloudy and dark, making the world feel calmer and quieter. This silence leads people to focus on their inner world and allows emotions to come to the forefront, evoking memories. Rain carries a range of symbols and metaphorical meanings in the human mind that are often romanticized. The movie and the song “Singing In The Rain” by Gene Kelly is probably the most famous example of this phenomenon. Normally rain scenes were used for the famous and common effect of sadness and sorrow, and then this movie appeared in 1952 with its use for the purest and happiest scene in cinema history. It is an absolutely amazing example of how different human minds can interpret similar situations.

 

  Could the main reason we associate rain with so many emotions and abstract concepts, and romanticize it, be that its tangible existence is a vital necessity for our lives? The life cycle depends on rain for trees to grow and bloom, plants to sprout, rivers to flow, lakes to replenish, creatures to live, for life to continue. The fact that rain also provides life when it falls could perhaps be the main reason it stirs our emotions; rain, as the undeniable manifestation of the delicate life cycle, unites people in a sense of gratitude and respect towards nature.