The theme that is emerging in my posts right now is about quietening the mind and finding peace there. When I am feeling challenged I will search through earlier posts to remind myself of the wisdom that I have shared … and to bring it home again. Enjoy this metaphor… and come back to your breath. You are in control of your kite.

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I love this metaphor for seeing our breath as the string of our kite.

girl flying kite

“The mind is like a kite, flying here and there,

and the breath is like the string of the kite, generally bringing the mind back into the present moment.

The breath brings the mind, which is all over the place, back to its source, a natural state of peacefulness and joy.”

Ravi Shankar

37 comments on “Mind is Like a Kite

  1. And when we cease to breathe, the mind wanders off all willy nilly? 🙂
    Diana xo

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  2. I have always loved this image.

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  3. Val, this post makes me think so much of our wonderful Nobel prize-winning poet, Seamus Heaney, and this great poem:

    A Kite for Aibhín

    After ‘L’Aquilone’ by Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912)

    Air from another life and time and place,
    Pale blue heavenly air is supporting
    A white wing beating high against the breeze,

    And yes, it is a kite! As when one afternoon
    All of us there trooped out
    Among the briar hedges and stripped thorn,

    I take my stand again, halt opposite
    Anahorish Hill to scan the blue,
    Back in that field to launch our long-tailed comet.

    And now it hovers, tugs, veers, dives askew,
    Lifts itself, goes with the wind until
    It rises to loud cheers from us below.

    Rises, and my hand is like a spindle
    Unspooling, the kite a thin-stemmed flower
    Climbing and carrying, carrying farther, higher

    The longing in the breast and planted feet
    And gazing face and heart of the kite flier
    Until string breaks and—separate, elate—

    The kite takes off, itself alone, a windfall.
    Seamus Heaney

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  4. I also love this image and find it hugely helpful when meditating 🙂

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  5. Wonderful metaphor Val.

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  6. And far too many of us forget that WE hold the string.

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  7. Love this, thanks for sharing. On an unrelated matter I am curious why you title your posts with an * in front of the title? Love Jenna

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    • Hi Jenna, glad you enjoyed this one! I put * s in front because in this theme on the sidebar its difficult to tell one post from the next… It looked like words running into each other. * makes it easier to see each title. Thanks for asking. Val x

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  8. Val, love this! I’m a big fan flying kites and the freedom that comes with it, love the analogy of the breath bringing us back to center!

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  9. I love this, Val. Thank you! xo

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  10. That is a beautiful metaphor. Thanks for re-sharing, Val.

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  11. A wonderful start to the week this is 🙂

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  12. This is really a beautiful metaphor, Val ❤

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  13. Yes indeed Val our mind is indeed so slippery and cannot be controlled by force. But if we start observing our breath calmly the turbulence in our mind will steadily subside and become tranquil.

    Thanks and best regards.

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  14. I always love watching kites, Val, but it’s the freedom to soar that captures me. Perhaps this is a better way to think of them.

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  15. Fantastic quote Val.. I am already Flying! 🙂

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  16. Oh, this is a good one, Val. Our thoughts can fly high and far before we realize it and reel them in!

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  17. I love that, Val, “You are in control of your kite.”

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