For some reason, this summer I have been obsessed with clouds. \u00a0I think we are having one of the best cloud summers ever in Colorado. A best friend has started calling me “cloud girl”. I’m really not sure why this\u00a0preoccupation\u00a0came about, though I’ve always liked clouds, or at least since I painted them all over my son’s ceiling when he was 5. I remember then that suddenly, what was just background noise popped and became a constantly changing\u00a0diorama\u00a0of inspiration.<\/p>\n
Painting makes you notice. \u00a0Suddenly you stop seeing just the big picture and you see the details of what you are trying to capture. \u00a0Recently I’ve found the same is true of writing. It’s impossible to try to capture what you aren’t paying attention to. Perhaps that is why I’m so entranced by clouds this summer. \u00a0Perhaps I’m finally paying attention – to life, to where I am, and not just to where I’m putting my feet. (Yeah, we’ll see how long it will last \ud83d\ude42 ).<\/p>\n
The clouds are never the same. \u00a0I’m sitting outside on my deck, and there are new clouds compared to ten minutes ago when I sat down. They were light and fluffy, but the big gray one with little color differentiation has moved around from my peripheral vision into the front. I like change, in general. \u00a0I’m the proverbial butterfly as all my friends know.<\/p>\n
Of course, what I like is movement, preferably aesthetic, not upheaval. \u00a0 (I’m eying that dark cloud suspiciously, and wouldn’t be very happy it if started raining on me). I happen to be in a good point in my life right now that paying attention is easy. \u00a0Sometimes when the proverbial big gray cloud comes around, and there really isn’t any detail to see, it’s hard to keep paying attention. \u00a0I get that.<\/p>\n
But looking down isn’t going to change what cloud is above you. \u00a0One of my favorite therapists (yes, I have more than one favorite therapist, and yes, I really do sometimes need more than one) used to say, when you don’t know what else to do, just look up. \u00a0Physically, look up. There is something about looking above the horizon that helps our outlook, both literally and metaphorically.<\/p>\n
So whatever you would like to do, but aren’t actually doing, try paying attention and see what happens. \u00a0Pay attention to the clouds for a while. \u00a0Sit with a cup of coffee and see if you can just be with them for a while. \u00a0(I lasted 5 minutes. I’ll try for 6 tomorrow).<\/p>\n
And if what you want to do is write (because it is, for so many of us), just start. Writing doesn’t always take us where we want to go. \u00a0I’ve had a big revelation lately – if I want to know how I feel about something, I just start writing. \u00a0Today, I noticed the clouds (for the several-hundredth time) and as I started self-justifying my obsession in my head, I thought, “Huh. What’s that about?” \u00a0All I started with was, “this summer I have been obsessed with clouds.” \u00a0That’s really all I had. (Oh, and a resolution to write a little something every morning, and a lack of inspiration about what I had planned to write about). \u00a0The rest was sitting there waiting for me to find it once I started writing. \u00a0A lot of things about life are like that, I think.<\/p>\n
Pay attention, and then just start. \u00a0Let they journey take you where it will.<\/p>\n
Oh, yeah, I guess then I have to just follow my own advice, and just hit Publish. \u00a0Hmmm, maybe I’ll watch the clouds a little more first….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For some reason, this summer I have been obsessed with clouds. \u00a0I think we are having one of the best cloud summers ever in Colorado. A best friend has started calling me “cloud girl”. I’m really not sure why this\u00a0preoccupation\u00a0came about, though I’ve always liked clouds, or at least since I painted them all over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stroyan.net\/lisasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}