NATURE

Silver Linings

A Walk in the clouds

I’ve always liked the proverb, ‘every cloud has a silver lining.’ It changes my perspective and reminds me that no matter how bleak things seem, there is always a bright side.

Silver linings as meditation

The other day I was sharing a meditation technique with a friend. The meditation involves focusing on clouds and imagining what it would be like to walk in the clouds. For creative purposes, I don’t imagine clouds as the water droplets they truly are. Instead, they become whatever my mind wants them to be. This helps me achieve the desired relaxation effect.

I imagine being suspended skyward with clouds surrounding me, above and below. I feel what the air would feel like if the laws of nature would permit such a thing. Fortunately, I don’t have to actually walk on the clouds to gain the meditative benefits of my imagination. I can close my eyes and imagine whatever brings me peace and calm.

I imagine the clouds as light as air. I press my palms to their surface and feel their softness. As I walk on the clouds, I feel the soft breeze beneath my feet as I float between each cloud. I breathe in soft, smooth, crisp, clean moist air. I breathe out billows of smoke and release the tension. I’m lost in the senses of my imagination. I’m wrapped in softness and serenity.

Being the silver lining

As I was meditating the other day, it occurred to me that I could choose to be the silver lining in any cloud. I could be a shining light in the storm clouds of life.

There’s no denying that nature has great power. Cumulonimbus clouds are relevant predictions of stormy weather ahead. They can bring thunder, lightning, and hail. These storms can tear lives apart. Just ask anyone who’s ever felt the effects of a looming funnel cloud and the utter destruction a tornado leaves in its wake.

Likewise, the silver lining of the sun behind the clouds can indicate the coming of peace and healing in nature. It can indicate solace, rest, and reassurance that there’s light behind the darkness.

Words have just as much power as nature. A thankful compliment can bring a smile to a person’s face just as quickly as an insult can bring a frown. Words are a powerful wind. They can be a gentle breeze that cools a hot temper. They can sweep calmness into an ominous situation. They can also be a tornado that tears down a person’s world.

Words can move people to action by showing new perspectives. They can also be a dark cloud over a person and destroy their motivation to act. Knowing this, I try to use my powerful voice to strengthen and support people around me.

Words can be the rain clouds in stormy weather or the silver lining in a cloud. Encouraging words can pave a road of hope for people in need. Kind words can soften a heart just as the sun softens the abrasive edges of a storm cloud.

Kind ears have the power to listen without judgment. Gentle words have the power to bring healing to a broken heart.

Seeing the silver lining

Seeing the silver lining behind each cloud is a way of practicing thankfulness. By using thankful language in my life, something remarkable happens. A cycle begins. I am reminded of even more things for which to give thanks. I’m also reminded of my qualities to share with others and how many ways I can be their support and a silver lining behind their clouds.

Every day is an opportunity to treat other people as I wish to be treated. Every storm cloud is an opportunity to encourage someone and help them see the light. Sometimes we bring light into a dark situation by helping someone feel understood. Open communication can dispel dark clouds with a clear sky of clarity.

One thing I endeavor to do in life is to have enough depth to look beyond appearances. I strive to be a tree with deep roots that are not easily uprooted by the storms of life. I want to be so deeply rooted in peace and continually motivated by love that I look beyond facial expressions, angry words, and hurt hearts to recognize when someone has a genuine need in their life that I can help fill. Hurt people are sometimes unfriendly people. I try to see past the hurt and storm clouds to the silver lining of a person’s heart.

“Never let a problem become an excuse.” – Robert H. Schuller in “Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do”

I try not to let problems between others and me become an excuse not to grow. Some of my best friendships had rocky beginnings. Some of my favorite people in the world are people I didn’t like when I first met them. I try to give people a chance, just as I’d like them to do for me. I try to see their silver linings. Once you find the silver linings, you soon find the sun behind them.

The origin of the idiom “Every cloud has a silver lining”

Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634

I see ye visibly, and now believe That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, Would send a glistering guardian, if need were To keep my life and honour unassailed. Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night? I did not err; there does a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night, And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

– John Milton

The first current appearance of “Every cloud has a silver lining”

If my words didn’t bring a silver lining to your clouds, read the following lines by Sarah Payton Parton. They’re a breath of fresh air and a silver lining to any cloud. Her words spring hope and can change the weather of our souls.

NO, NEVER! Every cloud has a silver lining; and He who wove it knows when to turn it out. So, after every night, however long or dark, there shall yet come a golden morning. Your noblest powers are never developed in prosperity. Any bark may glide in smooth water, with a favoring gale; but that is a brave, skilful oarsman who rows up stream, against the current, with adverse winds, and no cheering voice to wish him “God speed.” Keep your head above the wave; let neither sullen despair nor weak vacillation drag you under. Heed not the poisoned arrow of sneaking treachery that whizzes past you from the shore Judas sold himself when he sold his Master; and for him there dawned no resurrection morning! ‘T is glorious to battle on with a brave heart, while cowering pusillanimity turns trembling back. Dream not of the word “surrender!” When one frail human reed after another breaks, or bends beneath you, lean on the “Rock of Ages.” The Great Architect passes you through the furnace but to purify. The fire may scorch, but it shall never consume you. He will yet label you “fine gold.” The narrow path may be thorny to your tender feet; but the “promised land” lies beyond! The clusters of Hope may be seen with the eye of faith; your hand shall yet grasp them; your eyes revel, from the mountain top, over the green pastures and still waters of peace. You shall yet unbuckle your dusty armor, while soft breezes shall fan your victor temples. Nil desperandum!

– Nil desperandum, article in the Home Journal magazine in 1853 by Sarah Payton Parton

The one constant in life is that everything changes. No matter how thunderous the clouds appear, they always move. The sun always reveals itself again.

Clouds might temporarily cover our sunny skies with gloom, but it’s no reason to despair. Just because we can’t see the sun doesn’t mean it doesn’t burn just as hot and bright. All we have to do is continue moving forward, and the sun will shine again.

Mia Verita, 2022

An artistic rendering of “a walk in the clouds”

I used Mid journey to render this image. You can send a message if you want the prompts I used, but it took a lot of variations to achieve the desired effect.

Cloud sleep meditation

This has been my response to the “Wondrous Clouds in the Sky” prompt for the third week of November. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. I invite other writers here to share what the wondrous clouds in the sky mean to you.

Thank you to all the hard-working editors of Reciprocal, Dr. Preeti Singh, Sahil Patel, and Yana Bostongirl, for hosting this story.

Thank you, Dr. Preeti Singh, for this inspiring prompt.

Here are a few other responses to this prompt that I found inspiring.

Cristina Cattai shared this lovely article.

Dr. Gabriella Korosi shared this wonderful article.

Mia Verita enjoys seeing and being the silver lining behind the clouds. She enjoys photography, sketching, writing poetry, and sharing inspirational stories.

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