Colors blind the eye.
Sounds deafen the ear.
Flavors numb the taste.
Thoughts weaken the mind.
Desires wither the heart.
The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.
"Lao Tzu"
My mind buzzed me awake this morning. "package, mailbox. Go. Now. No. Hurry." it chimed.
Knowing that I could no longer sleep with such a message clanging on in my mind indefinitely. I popped out of bed so I could make sure I got a package in the mailbox before the mail lady came.
The air was surprisingly warm. The sun felt delicious on my skin. There was a gentle breeze flitting through the trees, just enough to wake me to full alertness, and give contrast to the warmth of the sun.
The clouds were hugging the mountains in popcorn like swirls. I ran outside with full the intention of running quickly back inside. But I stopped. I breathed in the cool, air. The sun felt cleansing.
It asked me to stay, not to go back inside.
I listened.
I sat cross legged on the porch, and drank in the morning, like one might drink in orange juice, still fully attired in my pajamas, and crazy pillow hair.
It felt clarifying, like bathing in crystal light. The birds were singing so joyfully in the trees. I smiled.
I got funny idea, and ran into the house, and brought out a little tank drum, the size of a bowl, and sat with it in my lap, drumming away, in bell like tones, like the hippy bird soul I am.
I lifted my head to the sky, and let the morning sink into my being.
Has nature always been this beautiful, I wondered?
Has the sky always been so alive? Has the sun always been this beautiful, this warm, this yellow?
Yes the answer came. It has always been there. But I've not always had eyes to see it.
The warmth soon disappeared and the sun went behind a cloud. I slipped back inside the house, and went about my morning chores.
A storm was rolling in, but the sun didn't mind, and kept peering out behind the clouds beckoning me to it. The morning had more it wanted to show me. So I grabbed my camera, and decided to let the sky tell me its secrets.
After snapping a few pictures, I set up my tripod, and my camera on time-lapse, hoping to record the clouds dance, without them needing to crying on my camera, and the wind knocking it over.
While my camera was doing its job, I decided that I would also record, but with my eyes, and my face, and my skin, and my soul.
Two time-laps started recording.
The sun kept peering out through the clouds, so I was happy to keep company with it. It warmed me, and I chatted with my sister while she worked on her woodworking bench.
Sheltered from the north breeze, the clouds rolled back, and the sun beamed down on my sister and I. It was so warm, and so comforting, after a while, I decided to run inside the house, and get my mom to enjoy the sunshine vitamin D feast.
But in the three minutes it took me to go from inside to outside, the wind decided to blow harder, and a bank of dark clouds hid the sun, mocking me.
My mom shirked as she came outside. "Birr it's cold! Where's the sun?"
I shook my head. "I don't know, it was here just three minutes ago. Maybe if you come sit down here, by me, it will come out again."
I stared at the long wall of clouds, not really believing that it would. The sun looked gone for good. The clouds were thick, and warmth from the sun was just a memory. I felt a little angry at the clouds for making me a liar.
There was zero warmth left.
Zilch.
How bleak the hedge of clouds looked. The wind was chilly. The sky was growing darker.
It looked like it might rain.
My mom has a hard time walking, but having faith in what I previously said was a warm day, she slowly made her way to a chair, and sat down by me.
She in a chair, me on the dirt.
"It
was warm, really," I said. 
Took this picture of a wall of clouds later that evening.
I don't think she believed me.
Luckily, the sky was still beautiful, though the sun was hidden. She had brought her camera, and we began talking, and she began snapping a few photos.
Then, without warning, the sun's rays shot through the clouds like a hand, parting darkness, and then out it came, bright, yellow, beautiful, warm, brilliant, as if our being there had opened up the bank of clouds, and there the sun stood, in the beautiful pool of blue sky. And both the sky, and the sun seemed to enjoy being appreciated, so much so that they shown down on us, as if on purpose.
Oh the wonderful blue sky.
Oh the beautiful clouds.
The best screen there is.
The best app.
The best wi-fi out there.
Where you'll find the best connection anywhere, grounded to the earth, connected to the best upload of clouds you'll ever see.
Twitter?
Yes, but from real birds.
Where all wise sages, and gurus sit beneath, gaining clarity from the timeless, consistent, rising and setting of the stars, and planets.
The clarity of nature imprints itself on our static covered souls, and the truth of it smoothes out the wrinkles in our being.
My sister and I surmised that therapists, and psychologists could not be good therapists if they were crammed up in a stale ol' building talking to troubled souls for hours. Where would all there sadness go?
Man-made buildings can only hold so much before crusty, soul dust bunnies start growing, and the stale breath starts accumulating, and even the sound of the clock makes time all the more apparent. No, there's not enough light shining in bricked rooms, filled fluorescent light bulbs to shed light on troubled souls.
How is one to have clarity and wisdom when the mind is wound up so tightly, and the guru is just another ball of tangled yarn, for people to tie themselves to?
No.
No such clarity could be achieved in side four walls.
Nature uncluttered truth is where you find your own.
I would be outside, or in a greenhouse, full of butterflies, or on a sandy beach by the ocean, or high up on a mountain, or with my feet in a cool pond.
The sky would be their teacher, the earth touching their toes, caressing them like a soothing mother.
The mud could calm their souls.
And like my mother and I, we would be reminded that the bank of clouds that seemed like it would last forever, would last just a moment.
The clarity would come.
All we had to do was wait, ready to receive the clouds along with the sunlight.
And perhaps, at the end of our lives, it will be a lot like the time-laps video I took today. You'll see your life, sped up, and realize how much sun there actually was, how fast the clouds went by.
Sometimes, looking up, in the moment your living in, you might think that there's more clouds than sun, rolling in, like a wall of soldiers destroying your pleasant moments.
A storm always looming. You think it will last forever.
Yet in retrospect---Sped up. The clouds, roll in and out, the blue sky beams in and out, the sun, shines in and out, though hidden at times, is always, there, up and down, shining, never dim, like your beating heart, like the rolling tide, like night and day, giving contrast, beauty and shadow, and light to your life.
The sun, always steady, there, peering in and out, more light than dark, really.
What you thought was a wall of never-ending clouds, was just something to give you more perspective, and beauty to the entire landscape of your life.
The sun always comes out. And much more quickly than you think.
Always there.
Always.
All you have to do was sit, and wait,
----------------------------------------------------
Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.
Therefore the Master remains
serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter his heart.
Because he has given up helping,
he is people's greatest help.
True words seem paradoxical.
Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu