Transform you day with a shift in your consciousness.
I was driving today on a very snowy day. It was mostly overcast, and the skies were a ubiquitous shade of white, matching the snow-covered ground. The landscape looked like one continuous white sheet draped over the expanse of sky, roads, and earth.
Despite the clouds, it was still quite bright. I glanced up and, piercing through the clouds, saw the shining ball of gas and furious fire we call the sun. It was veiled by thin clouds, allowing me to see its bright outline clearly. This reflection made me realize that the sun always shines with equal brightness. In the dead of night, the sun is shining just as brightly as it has for the last 4.5 billion years. When it is cold, wet, and miserable, and you haven’t seen the sun in five days, it is still there, shining just as brightly and warmly.
You may have experienced this firsthand. When taking off on a flight from dark and stormy skies, you inevitably pierce the veil of clouds to find the luminous sun suspended in the sky, shining just as happily and helpfully.
I then likened the clouds in the sky to the inner dialogue of the mind. The mind creates these dialogues about how your life is going, about various problems, hunger, overeating, daily plans, missed phone calls, annoying drivers, politicians, and even the state of the economy. If you have a bad day, it is often an accumulation of these unhelpful thoughts. It might go something like, “My car wouldn’t start today, this is terrible, now I’m late, my boss is going to judge me, and this will affect my ability to get promoted.” The rabbit hole of thoughts continues, “Now that I’m late, I won’t have time to get breakfast, and I’ll be starving all day.” Later, right on cue, your mind tells you, “I’m starving, I need food, I could die from hunger at any moment.”
These are the thoughts that cloud over the sky of what could easily be a wonderful day full of beauty and joy. Where has the sun gone? Where is the sun in this case?
If you have ever meditated or even sat quietly and listened to good music so intently that it took your mind off all the daily problems and challenges, it might have taken you to a place of bliss and happiness. In quiet meditation, after the thoughts have subsided, there is a serenity to be found—a quiet comfort that deepens with practice. It is not dependent on bills, mortgages, or workloads. With deep enough meditation, all those things fade away. This calm and serenity is your inner sun. It is the luminous center that dwells within everyone.
Imagine going into a prison where there is a riot in the cafeteria. Shivs are being used, tables are thrown, and the scene is one of releasing anger in the form of violence. We can analogize a kitchen argument where maybe pots and pans are being thrown. Now imagine you go in there, in your riot gear, grab one of these riled-up agitators, put a gun to their head, and say, “Meditate or die.” Of course, this may take some coercing, but imagine they have some experience meditating and believe you are sincere. So they stop, right in the middle of this chaos and noise, and go deep within.
That same space is there; they could reach it. That silent, peaceful, luminous center within you is always accessible, no matter the outside circumstances. Yes, it will take discipline and concentration to get there, especially with the distractions afflicting your senses, but it can be done.
So now we know there is a center of peace within everyone that can be attained virtually anytime, anywhere. Meditation is an easy path to get to that center. Sitting in a quiet, peaceful place, maybe using some mantra, focus, or religious ceremony will help your mind relax enough to get there. But it is just as accessible while sitting on a bustling subway. You are the one in charge of your mind and its focus, after all.
That is the analogy with the sun and the clouds. Your peaceful center, which some call the seat of the soul, is always there; it has always been there. Everything else is noise and clouds that obscure it from your view. Those who have never experienced peace, quiet, or serenity might never have glimpsed it. They might not believe any of this writing because, having not seen that sun, they only know a world of clouds. Or it has been so long since they’ve seen the sun, it seems like a superstitious wives’ tale.
I’m telling you, it’s there, waiting for you. Just as our sun is always shining, always bright, no matter what it shines on—good people, bad people, evil scenes, beautiful scenes—the sun shines on.
Your center is just the same; it is there waiting for you, and the one who put the clouds there is you. You can get aboard the airplane of meditation and see glimpses of it, but all airplanes must land. What some people have come to learn is that there is a cloud factory within them. There is a source for all these pervasive, intrusive, demanding thoughts that block out that sun. The source is your mind. You have submitted a whole pile of work orders to your mind about how things should be, and in response, it has been running the overtime shift, producing the clouds of thought, maybe for your whole life.
The inner functions of the cloud factory—your mind—can be explored another time. Just know that there is a way to turn it off, and once you do, the sky, slowly, very slowly, begins to clear. You require fewer airplanes, less quiet and contemplation, to perceive that sun. Once you can see it continuously, then your dark days are done. Even just catching glimpses is proof that it is there and that it is going to come out sooner or later.
Awareness of that sun gives you the strength to endure any dark thunderstorm since you know the sun will come out next. You also know that at any moment, you can hop on your airplane of meditation and climb out of the clouds.