How long as it been since you went outside at night and simply looked up? There is so much beauty in a night sky, and so many of use neglect to notice. It’s an amazing show of beauty (depending on cloud cover of course) and the price of admission is free for anyone fortunate enough to be living on this planet.
I make a point to go outside on nights when the sky is clear to look up at the stars. Whether I am sitting in a chair, on the hood of my car, standing or even laying on the ground, it’s something I cherish a lot. It’s one of the huge benefits of living in the middle of nowhere. City lights do not impact my view in any way.
Doing this gives me a couple main benefits.
First, it makes me feel small. It’s good to realize that this world, and universe, are so big and I’m just a small piece of the puzzle. It’s humbling in a very good way.
Secondly, it’s a fantastic source of inspiration. When I remove myself from the distraction of TV, internet, phone and things of that nature and simply look up, it leaves a lot of room for contemplation and important thoughts. Sometimes my best ideas come from these moments.
I often times get an uncomfortable feeling when I look at the immense night sky. What the hell else is out there? Where does space end? These are things that will likely never be answered. The unanswerable (or unGoogleable or unWikipediable) things in life bother me.
If you are longing to become more mindful of what is going on around you and about life in general, go out and look at the stars. Make a habit of it on any clear night, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Slow things down and take some time to simply look up.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I miss doing this. In Northern California it was easy to just get lost in your thoughts in the sky. Seattle, with all it’s rain and low lying clouds, is not so friendly in that respect. But the clouds are kind of cool, even if they are technically Googleable.
Definitely something we forget about and take advantage of. Another simple thing to do for inspiration is take a walk in the rain. I had a rough weekend and decided to take a mile walk this morning when it was raining. I came into work feeling so much better and very inspired with the project we were briefed on.
@ andi – Clouds are definitely cool, and I can imagine that Seattle isn’t the ideal star gazing environment. But yeah, be proud of your clouds :-) Googleable but still wonderful.
@ aaron – Walking in the rain is incredible! I was actually just talking to my girlfriend a couple days ago when it was raining out and said that I wish I was out hiking. She thinks I’m crazy but it’s really a cool experience. It’s great that you have taken advantage of weather that so many find miserable and used it to your benefit. Thanks for the comment!
“What the hell else is out there?” What a really valuable question to keep in mind all all times–it reminds me that the world is so much bigger than we imagine it to be, and makes me want to go find out what’s going on. Love it.
I can remember on several occasions being in Chile, for example, and looking up into the sky and just being amazed to be looking at the same sun or moon. The world really is vast. :)
@ ash – Glad you like the question, it’s something I refer back to quite often. I’ve never seen the stars Chilean style, but I’m sure it’s a beautiful sight. Thanks for stopping in :-)