Seeing the sunshine through cloudy skies

Watching the amazing images of the eclipse this morning live on the BBC and using my own viewing devices; a homemade pinhole camera and a kitchen colander to see it first hand, got me thinking...

These photos are not going to win any awards for capturing the eclipse but it was rather fascinating and surprising that holding up a colander to the sun, did actually reflect the shape of the eclipse onto my living room wall pretty well.

With the solar eclipse today, it was expected that the clouds would get in the way of some of the spectacle in certain parts and therefore the BBC had ensured they had cameras at the ready in an aeroplane filming above the grey clouds in order to bring us some truly amazing images.

Some days it can feel like "blue sky days" when we're feeling happy and positive, content with what we have and what we're doing, when everything seems to be working and falling into place easily and smoothly.  We might stumble upon the odd white cloud during the day but we can deal with it and it won't spoil our sunny disposition and ruin our "blue sky day".

Some days it can feel like "grey cloud days" where there's a pretty thick layer of grey cloud hanging over us and we feel tired, tasks feel harder or even impossible to complete, we might feel angry and beaten up by the world, grumpy and tetchy, or we have a never ending list of things that need doing and as soon as one thing gets ticked off, two more things crop up!

However, we know that from our own trips in aeroplanes when we've climbed through the cloud layer or from seeing on TV like the solar eclipse covering this morning, that the blue skies are always there.

No matter how thick the cloud layer is, the blue skies are still always there up above, where the sun is shiny and it's bright.

Sometimes we just have to be patient and give the cloud time to go away.  A "grey cloud day" may not feel quite so bad the day after particularly if we've managed to get some rest or some time away from the problems.  Those grey clouds might not feel quite so thick.

At other times we might need to do something ourselves to take steps towards trying to clear those clouds enough for us to be able to see some chinks of blue sky through the cloud gaps.  This could be taking a step back and trying to see things from a different perspective as mentioned in this post from a few days ago, or talking to someone you trust, taking time out to something completely different like getting away from your desk at work and going for a walk outside during lunch, it could even be a 10 minute power walk to blast out any frustrations whilst raising your heart beat and taking in from fresh air.

There are lots more ideas to try in our 10 Top Relaxation Tips series.

The blue skies are always there, but some days, they just take a bit more searching for than other days.

Although I liked my kitchen colander reflected image, the BBC have a whole host of much better ones  here!