There′s two reasons I really, really love flying on a plane. Besides the obvious one – I get to arrive really fast to the destination I want, another reason is that I can see the sky and the clouds up close. And I am kind of a clouds-junkie. I love them more than words can tell; still, Ill try to put it into words.
Its been a while now since I look at the sky and the clouds from a different perspective, and this is all thanks to Michael Neill, an exceptional coach that I will probably reference a lot and that you can also find at the Resources page.
Michael Neill makes this really cool analogy between the sky and our mind. And this is pretty much what he says…
The clear sky is like our minds when we are in the state of pure consciousness; that state when we are really peaceful, and completely present. We are receptive, we are still, and no thoughts about the past or about the future cloud our horizon. We dont have thinking, and we certainly dont have a lot of thinking about our thinking.
Our mind is like the force who can create clouds. And clouds are our thoughts; Michael calls thoughts ”the playdough of the Universe”. From this playdough we can create infinite images, infinite states, infinite inner experiences.
Sometimes we are just still. We are in the here and now. We have this beautiful state of sweet tranquility, and of limitless potential. We are able then to get a glimpse of how vaste our inner skies is. It looks something like this…
And then we begin to play. We begin to create thoughts. Slowly, but surely, our inner landscape becomes a bit more crowded, but it still feels pleasant.
Then at some point, the process seems to get out of our hands. It feels like we cannot stop playing or shaping play dough around. It becomes compulsive – and we find ourselves using the play dough to create shapes that we no longer like. The sensation of crowding starts to grow. The shapes become darker and in those moments, where thoughts come by in numerous groups, and they look so god damn real and scary, we seem to forget about the clear skies that is still somewhere there, in the background. We forget that the clouds pass, because that is essentially how things work.
And here we are. We have created a storm.
So what does one do when there is a storm?
We hide, we stay protected. We don’t get out to play anymore. We become serious, we become sober – because what else there is to do during a storm?
Suddenly, lightening shows up. Lightening brightens the entire sky. Its scary, but at the same time it brings some light, and this light helps us remember the permanence of the blue sky in the background of all this spectacle. It is a fantastic intensity, and it feels good to be released – because now we can truly trust this will pass.
Lightening makes me see the beauty in the dark, in the chaos, in the fear and I feel like rainbows are just around the corner.
But beyond seeing the skies, the clouds, the light… the most important understanding we can get out of all of this is that we are the ones creating the clouds. I am the key player on the field. How does it all feel now, that I understand that I am the play dough master?
What becomes possible for me now, that I understand that I create my own thoughts?
What makes me trust that my thoughts are real?
What makes me take them seriously?
Why would I accept to have any kind of clouds on my inner sky, without any triage point?
Who decides my thoughts?
And again it was Michael Neill who was telling this story of someone asking him: what can I do to calm my mind? What can I do to be fully present and at pace?
Michael answered that this question sounded something like: „How could I force to sun to come through the clouds, because darn it, I so need to see it again?”
And of course, we can’t do anything like that. All we can do is sit and wait for the clouds to pass, knowing with absolute certainty that they are not here to stay and that, at some point, the landscape of my mind is going to change.
And actually the calmer I am and the calmer the interpretations I make during the storm of thoughts, the higher my chance to accept the dark clouds, the winds, and the more I accept them, the faster I get to connect to my inner peace again.
So at the end of this short story that I love about clouds and thoughts, and skies and consciousness, I would invite you to stay with 2 questions:
How can I become more aware of my inner blue sky?
What do I choose to create with the play dough of my mind?
