Every time one looks up at the sky, they can witness a new masterpiece on a massive scale that will never be repeated. Yet clouds are so ubiquitous that, for the most part, their beauty is disregarded.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, said, “Clouds are one of the most evocative, diverse, and poetic expressions of nature. To tune into the clouds is to slow down, to calm down.  They are reminders that the exotic can be found in the everyday. To feel connected to our atmosphere is to remind us that we are creatures of the atmosphere. We do not live under it; we live within it.”

For this retreat, take time to look up at the bigger picture. Whenever you go outside, pause for just a moment, and appreciate the beauty of clouds or the vastness of their absence. Feel the sun on your face, the breeze touching your skin. Grab a picnic lunch and a blanket and pick a spot during your mindful walk to sit for a while and cloud-spot. Be like a kid again; embrace the vast sky as it embraces us.

Walking and Cloud-spotting

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes

on the grass under trees on a summer’s day,

listening to the murmur of the water,

or watching the clouds float across the ski,

is by no means a waste of time.

~John Lubbock, The Use of Life

As you walk, pause every now and then, look up at the sky and ponder this.

• Clouds are miraculous fluffy monsters that are born out of almost nothing.
• The average cloud droplet is .02 mm in diameter, about five times smaller than the thickness of a sheet of paper.
• Yet, taking somewhere between a minute and an hour, these miniscule droplets condense to form clouds up to 14 miles tall, which would be the same height as 50 Empire State Buildings piled on top of each other.

Clouds unite us to a non-linear sense of time where moisture from ages past hangs suspended over us. Aristotle described cloud formation in his 350 B.C. work, Meteorology, as the process by which “the finest and sweetest water is every day carried up and is dissolved into vapor and rises to the upper region, where it is condensed again by the cold and so returns to the earth.”

What a beautiful idea—that water, our life force, rises from the ground invisibly, with no past or future, and passes through us and all living matter on its way up to the heavens.  There it is drawn to other droplets where they conjoin in a beautiful slow dance before falling down to bathe us.

It is, of course, not all sweetness and light.  As they darken and swell with the power of an impending storm, the strength of clouds magnifies. Supercell clouds can be 50 miles wide and reach 65 miles in the atmosphere. When they crack open and unleash their chaotic violence, we are given a glimpse of the chaotic violence that defines the core of our birth. Camille Seaman, a noted photographer and storm chaser says, as they unload their fearsome payload, it gives one the “privilege to witness the same forces, the same process in a small version, that created our galaxy, solar system, our sun, this very planet.”

However, generally clouds are not reapers of destruction. When we were young and masters of our universe, clouds were benign subjects that paraded languorously before us, playfully changing shapes for our amusement. Aristophanes called clouds “the patron goddesses of idle fellows.” In a world that is so chronically busy, we need something that we can look up to, literally, that gives us permission to put aside our worries and obligations, take a breath, lie down in the grass, and experience the lightness of non-linear being.

Meditation on Unlimited Possibility

Focusing on unlimited possibilities will get you farther than focusing on your problems.  ~Ted Tecome

Now that you have spent some time looking into the vastness above you, spend a little more exploring that vastness within you. Your life, right now, is filled with unlimited possibilities. All you need to do is open your mind to receive them.

So, lay down either on a bed or the floor with a mat and some supports, if needed, on your neck and knees. With a deep breath, relax your body and feel it sink into the surface that it is resting on. Take three more deep, slow breaths. With each one, feel relaxation saturate your body, making it become heavier and sink even more deeply into the place where you are laying.

Notice how the area where you are laying supports you. Let it continue to do so, but now, notice that the area is becoming softer and more fluid. Rather than a firm surface, it is now like water cradling you; rich, blue water, reflecting the cloudless blue sky above you. You are sandwiched between the two infinite plains of blue.

You are feeling lighter now, like a cloud. With every breath you take, you become freer and more buoyant. Thoughts and worry settle to the bottom of your mind like sand. Breathe and float on this exquisite expanse of blue. You are a spiritual being and you float in the light of unlimited potential. You are made of love and light and stardust.

You are here to experience all life has to offer, so if you’ve experienced pain and suffering, know it’s equal in joy and happiness – and that must come to you as well. That is the law—that is Universal Law.

Take a deep breath and open your arms wide. You are welcoming that wonderful future to you. Love and a divine sense of trust and faith fills you now. You smile, seeing all the possibilities before you.

The blue beneath you begins to solidify now, once again becoming firm and supportive. You start to feel your body solidifying as well, pressing against the surface.

You take a deep breath, breathing in all those fabulous possibilities, and release it, letting go of any negative emotion that’s been holding you back

Continue taking these breaths for as long as you wish, then when you are ready open your eyes.

***

Torri’s book is available for purchase here.