Minor Earth, Major Sky
Cloud Meditation for the Clouded Mind
My aimless treks helped to relieve the stress of the news, the division and violence in society, and the worry of family members falling ill to Covid. I was advised to meditate once or twice a day and a close friend even gifted me a popular app known to help thousands across the world. I stuck with it for almost a month but felt it too difficult to focus on anything. My mind would race, thoughts would spiral and swirl, and I would just itch to get back to being my multitasking, efficient self once again.
The trifecta of ADD, stress and menopausal brain fog often gets in the way of my ability to just ‘sit with myself.’ Yoga is a particularly difficult task and when I ever feel the need to treat myself to that rare facial, I spend more time chatting with the aesthetician than drifting away to the soothing sounds of rainforests and chimes. No matter the effort, I can never get into the ‘zone.’ It becomes even more stressful and taxing on my mind when I’m hyper-focusing on trying to focus. Yet on my walks my mind eventually enters that space where it can just let go. Keeping a watchful eye on the sky has allowed me to be simultaneously engaged, yet happily disconnected with myself.
Clouds with muted and sometimes vibrant colors that change in a moment’s time are works of art by nature. Each day we are gifted a new creation, with surprising formations, textures, and tones. There are times when they are sprinkled across the sky in a scattered pattern or stacked higher and higher like a single billowy tower. If only we could get our faces out of our phones, laptops, and TVs more often, the answer to our daily stressors and burnout is right above us. Perhaps if we could all get our heads in the clouds, life might be so much more tolerable.
The visual pleasure of clouds is nothing new. I have been transfixed by them since I was a young girl. Today, friends will text snapshots of a dramatic sunset occurring just in that moment, and I do the same for them. We share images of dark and angry storm clouds approaching or cold winter skies touched with light strokes of bright coral and ice blue. I often just sit with my dog and stare as they pass us by…the colors shifting away from intensity as the sun starts to drop behind the horizon. Sometimes I am so hypnotized by the peace they bring me that it is the Earth that seems to be moving, and not the clouds themselves. It is only then when I begin to finally let go of my thoughts.
I never knew there was such a thing as Cloud Meditation, yet it has unknowingly been a vital part of my life all along. Standard meditation practices, while incredibly beneficial to so many, have been dreadful for me because my ability to focus on silence has been an enormous challenge. With Cloud Meditation I manage to get to that sweet spot while being surrounded and nurtured by nature. And that, puts me squarely on cloud nine.
Cloud Meditation- Head in the Clouds
