Out of the Clouds
Step 1: Clear Your Mind
“An unsettled mind is either worrying about the future or travelling into the past, getting lost in thought. You start to wonder; can I do this? Is this the right path? What will the others say? What if?” says Shi, adding that as a result, “the mind cannot synchronise with your own actions any more, and you become disconnected from the goals and aspirations you set for yourself.”
An important part of self-mastery is learning to observe our wandering thoughts, rather than engage with them. This allows us to move seamlessly through the clutter rather than allowing it to bog us down. Shi likens thoughts to clouds: “Sometimes the sky is clear and sometimes there are clouds. Your thoughts are like clouds; they come and go. But we can get so consumed by our fleeting thoughts and worries that we forget behind them is a clear, blue sky,” he explains. “You are not your thoughts. You are the sky.”