No, I'm not referring to the 1996 Finnish movie by Aki Kaurismäki ( film nerd joke ), but instead to one of my favorite mindful practices:
"Try to see your thoughts as drifting clouds that come and go. Be aware of the transientness of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, of life in general.
Not just of the things you consider bad or painful but also of those you consider fun, good, positive and so on and so forth.
I filmed these clouds four days ago, through my plane window, while on my way from Porto to Amsterdam - from Portugal to The Netherlands.
The weather was calm and clear in Portugal and became almost the opposite in The Netherlands. While the plane ascended to about 25000 feet or 7.5 kilometers of altitude, there were hardly any clouds to be seen. It was an awesome sight. During the flight, I started to see more and more clouds popping up or passing by, which reminded me of the 'drifting clouds' metaphor / mindfulness exercise. It also made me realize for the umpteenth time that the sun is always shining ( somewhere ) behind the clouds.
It just really helps to change your perspective every now and then. Literally breaking through the clouds and getting this bird's eye or almost God like kind of view is the perfect reminder for this.
And yes, so is traveling in general.
I could go on and on and add so much more words of wisdom to this but I'm gonna keep this a short one, for a change. Expect more Words of W coming up one of these days, possibly related to a book I bought on the airport - or should I say: AirPorto ? - of Porto.
The book I'm referring to is named "Alegria. O Felizdade Interior" ( I bought a Portuguese version ) which translates to: "Joy - The Happiness within" and has been written by the notorious Osho, an Indian guru known from the Netflix series "Wild Wild Country".
Have an awesome day and don't forget that everything is temporary. The only constant in life is change, so enjoy things while you can and try not to stress out too much over the temporary things that you aren't enjoying.
And here's some more pictures of clouds from my flight, for you to enjoy, meditate or ponder on: