"The sky is an infinite movie to me. I never get tired of looking at what's happening up there."
- K. D. Lang -
I’ve been on a Buddhist retreat last weekend deep in the Suffolk countryside. It was a spacious slow space with lots of time for silence and just sitting. Each morning I would rise at 6am make coffee and sit by the big floor to ceiling windows watching clouds. It was a warm but windy start to the weekend and the clouds were racing across the sky; just like my mind unsettled, eager to be somewhere. But as the weekend progressed both the sky and my mind slowed down and settled. And this past week the clouds have been low, lenticular as if painted on the sky.
In meditation the sky is often an analogy for big spacious mind, clouds the thoughts that come and go, ever changing, shifting shape, coming into being and dissolving.
Many years ago I discovered The Cloud Appreciation Society through their book The Cloudspotters Guide. The Cloud Appreciation Society has evolved and developed. As well as signing up to be a member for which you receive a cloud-spotter identification wheel and a ‘cloud a day’ email. They also have an app and the obligatory Merch. But don’t get dragged into all the stuff, be inspired by the principle of cloud watching.
It doesn’t have to be clouds of course, it could be just gazing out of the window, or sitting in the garden. But only that - just sitting, just looking, just listening, just being. Even just for 10 minutes during the day. Or maybe for you just lying in constructive rest works better. Whatever allows you space to stop and be.
Since returning from retreat I’ve tried to build that ‘doing nothing’ into my day. It’s been lovely weather so just being immersed in my senses has helped create that space and slow down.
I’m also doing a lovely online course at the moment with Quiet Note on the Art of Listening. This combines mindful listening with music appreciation and is the highlight of my week. We practice mindful listening exercises and are treated to musical samples to listen to and experience. When do we just listen to music and nothing else (apart form a concert)? Its a real treat and I’ve been exploring some music I didn’t know.
For example, Pauline Oliveros. She was a very interesting composer using slow drone technique who brought in elements of spirituality and meditation into her exploration. This evolved into Deep Listening a practice of radical attentiveness.
Deep listening, spacious attentiveness and mind wandering is very good for us. It allows the mind to make new connections and join the dots to all the information and experiences we are having. New ideas emerge or solutions to problems. But it also makes us feel calmer. Be careful though that you are not ruminating or worrying. Keep the mind free and open and try not to get fixed on any one thing.
Johann Hari in his new and highly recommended book Stolen Focus (I will write more about this in the future) says that mind wandering is a different form of attention, not focused but free. Researchers believe it helps our brain slowly make sense of the world, be creative and make patient long term decisions. Through mind wandering we can unconsciously make sense of our life. It’s not that we are lazy or slacking when allowing our mind to wander but that we allow new patterns of association that leas to new insights. Without mind wandering we become prone to constant distraction.
In his The Art of Reflection Ratnaguna draws on his own experience and on Buddhist teachings, Western philosophy, psychology and literature, to provide a practical guide to reflection in its many forms.
So this is my wish for you to watch clouds, listen to music, do nothing, make space.