Cloud Watching (or Cloud Spotting, or Cloud Gazing), is not just an unusual hobby. To me, it is a daily ritual, a practice that sustains me. It hasn’t been always like this. I used to look at the sky to check whether to pack an umbrella or flip-flops. Things changed when I was bedridden in the hospital and had to spend hours and hours looking at the same dull white ceiling. I realized what a privilege access to the sky is. Then, when I moved to Stavanger, which is a beautiful city on the Rogaland coast, I learnt that dark winter days can be incredibly taxing on the mind. I have also perceived this in my daily job, as I was working with refuge children who have endured confinement without seeing the sky for days, sometimes weeks. These experiences taught me that being able to see the shapes of clouds is a blessing we should never take for granted.

After one long rainy and murky winter in Stavanger, with months of almost no daylight and no visible blueness, I made a promise to myself to pay more attention to the sky. It was quite a religious moment for me. It happened on the day when the upper tip of the sun first appeared on the horizon. It felt like an opening, a flow of daffodil energy streaming straight into my heart. I spontaneously got on my knees and thanked the sky. Since that day, I make daily appointments with my own soul to practice cloud-watching. Every day (either in the mornings before going to work or late afternoons when I finish work), I lie down on the ground (be this in the garden, in the park or another patch of grass) and I watch the clouds. Just like that. I lie still, on my back, legs stretched, arms next to the body, and I watch clouds go by above me.

I cherish my cloud-watching moments. My thoughts get calmer, my body relaxes. I often think about my day, either about what awaits me or what I experienced. I sometimes let my thoughts talk among each other, self-evaluate whether I was at my most compassionate and strongest that day. I sometimes smile, I sometimes cry. But most often, I don’t think much. I just watch the clouds pass by and I ponder their journey, colours, shapes. It is beautiful.

You can turn cloud watching into a professional hobby. There is the Cloud Appreciation Society and there are apps for clouds’ names (Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus etc.). Cloud-watching is good for mental health and several mindfulness coaches recommend it as part of their therapy. There are also some fantastic books. I am particularly fond of Alexandra Harris’ Weatherland (a literary history of weather by English artists and writers).

I have written quite a few poems about clouds. ‘Elsewhere’ was written in the hospital and ‘Cloud wondering’ was written after a long dark winter. And these photos on Pinterest were taken by me when the sky was at its best. If you are a fellow cloud-watcher, congratulations. You have discovered a gift that keeps on giving. If you have never tried cloud-watching, please try it after reading this blog. You will discover a new-found appreciation for freedom.

Per Ars Poetica Ad Cor Vitae