Cloud spotting is such a pointless activity, which is precisely why it is so important.

‘Clouds get a bad rap. The English language has written into it negative associations towards the clouds. Someone who’s down or depressed, they’re under a cloud. Where there’s bad news in store, there’s a cloud on the horizon. It seems like they are everyone’s default doom-and-gloom metaphor…But most people, when you stop to ask them, will admit to harboring a strange sort of fondness for clouds. It’s like a nostalgic fondness, and they make them think of their youth. Who can’t remember looking and finding shapes in the clouds when they were kids? When you were masters of daydreaming?’ – Garvin Pretor-Pinney, founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society

The appeal of clouds are instinctive. But we take them for granted. They are so omnipresent that their beauty is missed. Often, they form the nice background of other things, they are rarely admired in and of their own. The problem is lack of encouragement. There isn’t a legitimate reason as to what the point of cloud spotting might be in such a busy and ruthlessly practical time. And yet, spending time of close observation with clouds, ‘may just play a minor but important supporting role in the pursuit of a balanced and more or less sane life.’ – Alain De Botton

Clouds are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her display: all of us can have a fantastic view of the sky.

Clouds return us to a broader perspective from the worries of the here and now: it will all passed, even the current anxiety and pain, like the clouds that seem so fixed and heavy an hour ago have now moved on, leaving traces of them against the backdrop of a glorious sunset.

Clouds remind us that the exotic can be found in the everyday, the commonplace, and the mundane: you just need to have an open, inquiring mind ready to be surprised and amazed, and you will be. You don’t even need to rush off from the familiar to across the world, you just need to step outside (literally sometimes, metaphorically other times).

Clouds are the most diverse, evocative, poetic and soulful aspect of nature that is so available to you, it will be a pity if you forget to allow yourself the indulgence of letting your imagination drift along with them.

Come join me, to live a while with your head in the clouds, to savor a moment of cloudy with the chance of joy, to delight yourself in learning the names of some of your most familiar clouds with a Cloud Spotter’s Guide in hand. Reciting the Cloud Appreciation Society’s Manifesto is optional, although I will highly recommend it.

You might just find yourself falling in love with these ‘patron goddesses of idle fellows’ (clouds as Aristophanes, the ancient Greek play writer called them), like me.

Love the idea? When shall we begin?