The Sky Beneath Us

by Fiona Valpy

The message is loud and clear . . . life falls apart; and maybe some things can’t be mended, but perhaps they can be reshaped into something even more beautiful.

‘Because it’s only when we stop clinging on to the plans we’ve made that we step on to the middle way – the way of the unknown. We call this the sacred path of the warrior.’

Sometimes we would find ourselves walking along a dusty track with clouds floating in the valley beneath us. It was a strange feeling, as if we were walking in the sky.

The mountains were our constant companions, watching over us from all sides like vast, all-seeing Buddhas as we trekked further into the Khumbu. I could quite understand how the Sherpa people might believe them to be deities.

A hidden valley ran upwards to our left, carpeted with deep-blue flowers, looking for all the world as if a thousand pieces of the sky had tumbled down to form their petals.

And I wonder at the possibility of a new future as I gaze out at the watchful peaks that hold us in their powerful embrace, and the valley filled with sky beneath us.

My favourites were the blue poppies, which looked like little bits of fallen sky, nodding on their tall stems, brushing our skirts as we passed by.

She said life is like trekking: it’s hard sometimes, but just keep putting one foot in front of the other, until you finally reach a place where you can see the sky beneath you.’

In following Violet’s journey, putting one foot in front of the other just as she did, I’ve reached a place where I can see the sky beneath me.

‘My mother often used to say that life is not about finding yourself – it’s about creating the person you want to be. Life doesn’t always give us answers. She taught me we have to accept there are some things we can’t understand, and in the end our lives will be defined by what we do with that fact – how we accept it and pick ourselves up, facing reality and adapting to it, rather than denying or ignoring it.

‘It’s never easy, making changes, is it? It takes quite a bit of work because, as we Buddhists know, the natural human way is to cling blindly to the desires and beliefs that make us suffer. Wishing life was otherwise keeps us stuck. Accepting where we are and focusing on finding the goodness in every day can go a long way to getting us out of that downward spiral of suffering.

‘If we can let go of the thoughts that are keeping us trapped, stop fighting with them and struggling against them, we will soar upwards, where the currents take us.’

‘Unless we’re incredibly fortunate, sooner or later we all live through such times. Often, it’s something personal and individual. But just at the moment I think the pandemic has created an avalanche of sadness for the whole world. So it’s all the more important to look for these tiny signs of life and hope that keep us going.’

‘Buddha say three kinds of people. First kind have mind like rock: thoughts are carved there, like on mani stones. Stay angry or sad or frightened a long time. Second kind have mind like sand: anger, sadness written there but pass away quickly as sand shifts. Third kind most pure and undisturbed: mind like water. Thoughts never can be written there, just flow through. Mind like water best. Let thoughts pass through. Doesn’t mean don’t be thinking them, just not holding on to them.’

‘I think love is like Khumbila over there. It may be weathered and scoured, it may experience terrible avalanches and devastating rockfalls. But it only does so because it dares to be there in the first place. Our lives would be like trudging across a flat, featureless plain if we didn’t have the courage to climb the mountains.’

‘Ah, Daisy, your heart isn’t breaking in a bad way. This time it’s breaking wide open, like a seed. And when that happens, there’s the possibility of a transformation, the birth of something new.’

‘But it’s what we’re all doing in this life – coming and going, loving and losing, living and dying. In the end, we’re all just walking each other home, aren’t we? Finding our way along the paths of life, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of others, until we find a way to let go. This is what our faith is for. Because this is where all paths eventually lead.’

‘Don’t only be sad, Daisy Didi. Be happy too. Make space for all those feelings, and know you have the space in that beautiful, broken heart of yours to contain them all. Violet used to say to me when I was feeling sad that even in the hardest times the joy is always there, like the blue sky behind the clouds. When we know that, maybe we can let the clouds drift away, letting happiness shine through again.’

life is not about finding yourself – it’s about creating the person you want to be.

Journey far, but travel within. It makes sense to me now. Covering the miles to get to my destination, either by walking slowly, slowly through this landscape or by flying above it, was never really the goal. It’s the fact that I took myself out of my familiar, comfortable life and put myself in a place where none of the usual, carefully constructed props and points of reference were available to me that allowed me to be myself again. To rediscover the essence of me. It

I wonder at the possibility of a new future as I gaze out at the sky beneath us.

‘Take the example of the Madagascar periwinkle. It was once used in traditional medicine and when scientists researched it further, they discovered it contained two compounds – vinblastine and vincristine – that reduce the number of white blood cells in the body. Those alkaloids have been developed to provide a key substance used in chemotherapy for the treatment of various cancers. It revolutionised the treatment of childhood leukaemia, in particular. Just imagine how many young lives have been saved by that little plant. Just imagine how many more such discoveries could be out there, waiting to be made.’

‘Just put one foot in front of the other, slowly, slowly. You get there, no worry.’