How to Cloud Watch

By: Mary Bartnikowski

We think there isn't time to come outside our cubicles and let the sky speak to us. Children know when to look up imagining a picture of heaven drawn by angels. Hiding in its billows are messengers of God trying to get through our bolted up souls. All we have to do is look up and be transformed from an ant to a soaring eagle. Getting lost in the sky, simply by choosing not to look down at our shoes gives us room to breathe, to try something new and to laugh.

The best way to do it is to lay down on the ground, back on the grass and gaze upwards. Pick any day but be sure to do it on a day when clouds are changing formation by the second.

Get comfortable. Bring tea, blankets and a pillow so you won't use the old fogy excuse of, "I'm cold". Cold is 5-degrees below-zero with a wind-chill factor of minus 25 degrees. Settle in and let your eyes wander. Let go of any ideas you are entertaining that could easily be labeled, "no fun" Remember being a kid and doing this on a regular basis? It was called "dreaming".

Resistance can set in. You may hear the voices of your parents saying, "daydreaming is bad, do something constructive." This is the critical voice inside you saying that you are too busy to have this much fun doing "nothing". Our best ideas can come to us while we are taking a break from the mundanities that consume us daily.

Take some deep breaths and open your heart to the magnificence of this sight before you. Ask for answers to questions you have and know that inside you lies the answer. Or just enjoy the beauty set before you. The sky will never again look exactly like this. Each moment has the possibility of divinity within its seconds.

You might not want to go back to work -- ever. You may get a nudge to change jobs, travel or do what comes passionately to you. We are on this earth to learn more about our divine selves. Being still is the only way to hear that message.

Do it now, not later. Once you get rooted on the ground looking up at the clouds dancing by, you'll feel like an oak tree or decide to take the rest of the day off. It's time to play again.


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