I've been pretending to be a cloud
And I think I like it
I always go on a little walk at some point in the middle of the day, because, you know, it’s good for me and all that.
However, sometimes it doesn’t do what I am hoping it will do. I get back from my walk and I am still tense or frazzled, and really while I have been outside, my mind has been stuck in the same place it was before I left: going over all the things I have to do, whether I have enough time to do it, whether I have done a good enough job on something, or whatever it might be (those are usually the themes).
Plus I am absolutely stomping round, thrashing my little legs (I really do have short legs in comparison to my body – perhaps more on that another time) like I am training for a walking race or something.
Today I wanted to do something about that, because I had an early start, I’d been at my computer for a long time and I really wanted to unwind for a bit. So, I thought about imagery.
Sometimes when I want to get myself into a particular headspace or to feel a particular way, I imagine something that captures it. One I use a lot is a bouncy ball: when I am a bit stuck in my head but I have some time with the kids and I want to be a bit more present, I picture a bouncy ball, as that is the headspace I want to be in. When I am doing a talk and I can feel myself getting a bit antsy, sometimes I picture a rock in a stream: still, calm, cool. I have written here before about using a rock when I want to be a little more assertive: a rock isn’t aggressive, it’s just solid, stately and it’s unlikely to move, so that’s how I want to be.
So, today I thought about a cloud. It’s a lovely sunny day and there were just a couple of clouds drifting overhead. In picturing them, I thought about drifting steadily and evenly, at the same pace, at the same height, and just sort of watching the world below from a distance. No judgement, not particularly attached, just watching and observing.
So that’s what I did. It made me hold myself a little taller, walk a little more slowly and steadily, and look around through the eyes of a cloud.
I know they don’t have eyes, but still, you take my point.
Sometimes imagery or metaphor can do for us what words or instructions can’t. Now when I say the word “cloud” there is a whole series of things that come with that: how it feels in the body, what it means in terms of how I think, all of which would take ages to explain, but I don’t have to.
I can just use “cloud.”
P.S. One of the great things about doing 1:1 work with people is that they will often bring metaphors that never would have occurred to me in a million years. A panther for someone feeling confident. A little baby armadillo curling into a ball for what it feels like when we get scared. Someone once described the heavy feeling that comes with depression as “bed gravity.” Images just do more sometimes.



Tiny small legs + long body... You and me both, Ted, you and me both.
I really like the imagery, especially the steady rock in the stream.