Sitting quietly the other day, I was looking up at the sky and watching the clouds float by, suspended in a beautiful ceiling of blue. Watching clouds is so relaxing to me. I wondered why that was. Clouds float effortlessly in the space of the sky, free to come and go. The sky offers no resistance, nor do the clumps of clouds resist the presence and inter-relatedness of each other. There is something instinctual about watching the natural flow of life, like the waves in an ocean, the current in a stream, the flickering of flames in a fireplace, the wind blowing evergreen branches. Could it be that noticing these things holds lessons that relate to our own mind?

How is a mind possibly like clouds floating in the sky? Or, conversely, how is a mind the opposite of this phenomenon? Let’s take our thoughts for example. Do we resist thoughts by trying to avoid them? Or do we perhaps over focus on thoughts and try to control them? That does not sound very cloud like now, does it! On the other hand, could our awareness of thoughts be like the sky, with endless space to hold whatever flows past, without offering any resistance? Can we develop the skill to allow thoughts to come and go and just observe them? Can we watch our thoughts like we watch the clouds encounter one another, blend together, or dissipate and disappear all by themselves?

The answer is YES! This is the practice of mindful awareness or mindful focusing, to witness the content of our mind and curiously watch what comes and goes. Of course, this is not what the mind is conditioned to do. We are wired to pay constant attention to our mental constructs — without stepping back and observing the activity in our head. We might say that without an observing awareness we react as if we ARE our thoughts.That we are not our thoughts is a radical departure for most people. We tend to become extremely identified with our thoughts and mental stories. For example, how many of us have sat in our living room and created anxiety by thinking about something dreadful or dangerous? For some, that could be getting on an airplane. Fear of flying is common, and those thoughts and images can themselves create a reaction in the body as if they are happening right now!

This is in contrast to mindful awareness where instead of REACTING to the thoughts and images we see them like clouds floating by on the screen of our mind. Rather than pushing thoughts away or obsessively grabbing onto the thoughts or images, we become free just to be curious and to become aware. We can actually hold a safe place inside our mind to look directly at what’s going on without becoming emotional or anxious. This can be quite a relief as we find that, with practice, even difficult thoughts or feelings — sadness, anger, grief, fear, or any other emotions that can get triggered in life — can become more workable. Like clouds in the sky, thoughts and emotions will not stop coming. But we can take a more “friendly” attitude toward what happens inside of us.

BE LIKE A CLOUD, BE LIKE THE SKY! (Sounds like the boxer Mohammed Ali’s mantra, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!) Since we can be both, it’s a cue to practice pausing and to observe or witness, with friendly curiosity, the thoughts, feelings, and stories that our mind produces all the time. Some are positive and some are negative. But the truth is the only thing that makes a thought difficult is the meaning we assign to it. If we do not label our mental experiences as good or bad, happy or sad, they all become JUST THOUGHTS. Just like clouds, to which we often assign shapes and faces and other meanings, we can just watch our thoughts flow and rest in the awareness of spaciousness. We don’t have to do anything but witness our inner world go by. Couldn’t your mind and body use a break these days from all the worries and stressful thoughts? I know mine could. And this technique is available to us at any time. Maybe, with practice, it becomes as easy as turning our eyes to the skies!