Cloud Gazing: How To Manicure Your Mind on a Sunday Afternoon

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There comes a time when every kid is told to pull his head out of the clouds and get serious about life. So he dutifully surrenders actual reality and the inherent sanity of youth to join the ranks of the "unsane" masses and eke out another cookie-cutter existence in the world. Suddenly one day he discovers that the mapped out life isn't really life at all, and the destination on the map is a place he'd rather not go.

If you find yourself in this situation, the message is this: If you don't like the map you are following, stop following it. Stick your head back in the clouds and improve your mapping skills. It's a pretty straight-forward activity. Let your mind paint a new destination.

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Cloud Appreciation Society

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"You have to regard yourself as a cloud in the flesh. Because you see, clouds never make mistakes. Did you ever see a cloud that was misshapen? Did you ever see a badly designed wave? No. They always do the right thing. Now so as a matter of fact do we, because we are natural beings just like clouds and waves. Only we have complicated games, which cause us to doubt ourselves. But if you will treat yourself for a while as a cloud or wave, and realize that you can't make a mistake whatever you do, because even if you do something that seems to be totally disastrous, it will all come out in the wash somehow or other. Then through this capacity, you will develop a kind of confidence, and through confidence you will be able to trust your own intuition." 

-Alan Watts, Taoism: Way Beyond Seeking

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Little Cloud

The Incredible String Band

-Mike Heron

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LoneStar Neanderthal