December 3rd, 2017 — that’s today — will give us the year’s only “supermoon”. Basically, the moon is in its perigee (well, damn near it), the closest point it gets to the earth in its orbit, in a period at which it also happens to be full. The next two full moons will also be classed as “supermoons”. What’s it mean? Well, it means (hopefully) a great big-looking moon in the sky tonight. The full moon always rises pretty much as soon as the sun sets, so do go out and have a look for it at that time (opposite the sunset), and later, too, when it’s dark and the moon is luminous and silvery. It always looks really big and impressive when it’s low down on the horizon, though, and it’s often a beautiful golden or orange colour from all the crap in the atmosphere.
I could geek out now and start talking about telephoto lenses and camera settings and tripods, time-lapse etc., and how best to capture the moon with your camera … but I won’t.
Instead, for just this once, I’d like to ask you to just be there. Looking. Present.
Look to the skies, and enjoy the moon tonight. If you have a loved one far away from you, you might stop to wonder if that person is looking at the moon in that moment, too. And maybe he or she is. Maybe they look at the moon a lot, and think of you. Or maybe it’s raining or cloudy where they are. Or maybe they’re not that kind of person (but maybe they are). It doesn’t matter — it’s nice to think that they might be looking, and maybe even thinking of you. It’s nice to think about them, and look at this big, beautiful thing.
We are connected beneath the moon. When you look up, it’s the same moon that your loved one sees. It’s the same moon that looks down on you both. There is no time or space that separates you in that moment, when you dwell, ever so briefly, on that other sphere, and wonder.
And if you’re frying chips or something, don’t leave them in the oil while you go out and look at the moon. That’s a fire hazard. You might get lost in thought, or transported into a meditation in which time ceases to exist in the familiar, linear way you’re used to it behaving. And anyway, give yourself the time and the space to just be there, staring up like a romantic fool, at the moon. There, I said it. It's not sappy if it moves you. Nothing is.
Be a part of this significant insignificance, here on this tiny little planet in this miniscule space of time. Let everything else drop off for a moment. Hold it in your heart. Maybe it’s bittersweet; probably it is. Maybe it gives you silent, secret hopes for future reunions, or maybe it brings back some forgotten memory. But right now, there it is. This moon, and you there with it. Enjoy it, and all the feelings you might have as you do. Laugh, cry, remember, reflect, and plan. And live that dance.
(hashtag stuff follows)
#meditation #romantics #itisntsappyifitmovesyou #dontfrychipswhenyoulookatthemoonbecauseyoumightsetsomethingonfire