THE GROWING SELF MODEL
The Rain
Everything coming into our awareness, from the world around us and from within.
We are aware of our internal and external world through our senses. This information travels through our bodies and up the nervous system. In the mind, the information is organized by biology. The structure of the brain means that information tends to flow in orderly and predictable ways. This is all the information available to the mind.
We are sensing beings and our senses work by noticing change and contrast. We usually don’t notice constant things like the feeling of our socks on our feet or the temperature in the room unless something changes. A quiet hum from the refrigerator eventually disappears into the background until the power suddenly goes out and the silence feels strange. All of this changing information can be seen as the Rain.
The individual points are like water droplets falling into the Landscape. Some drops are small and barely noticed while others hit like a storm. A loud crash in the middle of the night immediately grabs our attention while the feeling of the chair beneath us slowly fades away.
The Landscape is constantly being hit by this Rain and all of that movement creates pressure on the Growing Self. The biology of being human means that we have certain senses like sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound. These are how we figure out the world around us.
But these basic senses are only part of the story.
We also have senses that tell where our hands are in relation to a cup or how much time has gone by. We have internal senses like hunger, tension, heart rate, exhaustion, pain, and emotional discomfort. Many of these only become noticeable when something changes or when our attention is pulled toward them.
The Rain is not only the outside world. Thoughts, memories, imagination, anticipation, and emotions also create movement within the Landscape.
The body can react to an imagined argument almost the same way it reacts to a real one. A memory from years ago can still tighten the chest or change the mood. The mind doesn’t only respond to what is happening around us, but also to what is happening within us.
The mind cannot focus on everything at once, so it has to prioritize. Some information gets pushed forward while other information fades into the background. What we focus on becomes louder in the Landscape.
If I am anxious, I may notice every sign that something is wrong while overlooking signs that things are okay. If I feel insecure, I may focus on rejection while missing connection. Two people can walk into the same room and notice completely different things because their Landscapes are paying attention to different kinds of Rain.
The Rain itself is not good or bad. It is just information moving through the system.
The meaning comes later.
A racing heart could mean fear, excitement, attraction, panic, or anticipation depending on how the Landscape organizes the experience. The Self takes in this information and tries to make sense of it based on what it already knows. The Mountains help organize the Rain before it reaches the Growing Self.
The nervous system naturally filters and prioritizes information based on survival and importance. Sudden movements, loud noises, angry faces, or signs of danger tend to rise quickly to the surface because threats are prioritized.
Some Landscapes become highly sensitive to certain kinds of Rain while others become numb to it. A person who grows up around constant yelling may barely notice tension in a room while someone else immediately feels overwhelmed by it.
The Rain never fully stops.
Information is always moving through the Landscape. Most of the time the system handles this naturally without us noticing.
But pressure can build up over time. One difficult moment may not change much, but constant stress, conflict, fear, criticism, loneliness, or overstimulation slowly reshape the Landscape. A single drop rarely changes the system, but repeated storms carve deep paths over time.
Modern life can create an overwhelming amount of Rain. Notifications, noise, traffic, conversations, pressure, advertisements, social media, and constant stimulation keep the Landscape moving almost nonstop.
When too much Rain falls at once, the water becomes turbulent and difficult to organize. The system loses clarity and survival instincts begin to take over.
In the model of the Growing Self, the Rain is all of the information moving through the Landscape from both the outer and inner world. The Self uses this information to create meaning, guide action, and understand life around it.