Look up and meditate: a life lesson learned over and over again

My mind is mush.

Today was one of those beautiful days: sunshine, warm weather and a handful of mini-accomplishments. Then, in my German course, rather than focusing on articles and grammar, I spent a vast majority of it talking philosophy with one of my fellow students. In hushed (English) whispers, we spoke of dancing alone in the woods, of birthdays and building things. We spoke of humanity, solitude and technology.

For me, spring seems to have brought in more than just some spring cleaning. I’m trying to revitalize my lookout on life. My thoughts and my philosophies have been under the microscope for the past few months, and now they’re starting to get a serious scrubbing.

Philosophizing has been a long-time favorite word of mine. Books like The Plague and Sophie’s World only fueled my interest. Over the past few months, I’ve been philosophizing more and more. Sure, it’s a lot of thinking and not always a lot of doing, but a boy has to start somewhere.

Today in Berlin I decided to take all that thinking and actually meditate. I walked up the nearest hill, laid down on a bench and looked up. The sky above me stretched up. With few people around, the noise blocked by the wind, all I could see was what was above me. There’s something exhilarating when you suddenly see nothing. I think it’s what makes photos of the horizon so popular. There’s all that potential for something further away. But by lying down and looking up, I felt as connected to my place in the world (right here, right now) as I did to what’s beyond—wherever and whatever that is.

We spend so much time planning and preparing but so little time living in the moment. I spent 10 minutes this evening watching a pair of mosquitoes fly around my head. It was thrilling and exciting, and boring and tiring. But even just that tiny fragment of my day spent without worry or thought was enough to clear my mind.

So next time your mind is aflutter, I suggest taking a moment, finding an open space, blocking out the world…and looking up. There’s a lot you can find up there.

Other photos from when I’ve looked up