Exploring Gratitude with the Moon

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Hurray.

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Ghia here.

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I'm this week's host of the

creative, spiritual journey podcast.

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We're duty.

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And I talk about those

things that bring us joy.

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For me.

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I find joy by connecting with nature.

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Connecting with Jesus Christ and our

heavenly parents seasonal living.

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And all the bits of magic and wonder

I come across while navigating this

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remarkable journey we call life.

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Today.

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I want to start off talking about

cycles and the power of repetition.

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I believe this earth was

designed specifically for us.

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Everything about it is for our highest

good and to enhance our ability to

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return home to our heavenly parents.

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I don't think it's a coincidence that we

have the cycle created by the sun rising

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in the morning and setting in the evening.

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Think about a day for a moment.

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It's repetition.

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I can count on.

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Every day I get to start over.

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If I forgot to read my

scriptures yesterday.

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I get to remember and try again today.

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It's a fresh beginning.

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And while some days can

seem long, they always end.

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And I can count on that as well.

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I like to think about

what this teaches me.

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And what about the weeks?

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Every seven days we have another Sabbath.

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And what do I do on the Sabbath?

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I rest, I go to church.

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I take the sacrament.

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And I hear the same sacramental

prayers repeated every time.

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Wouldn't once be enough.

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I asked myself why the repetition.

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What do I learn from hearing

the same words every week?

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And the temple.

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I don't go the same day of the week

or even the same day of the month.

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But every time I go, I hear

the same words again and again.

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And I wonder why.

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Another example of repetition

is the seasons created by the

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sun and the tilt of the earth.

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The seasons encompass the days

and the weeks and give us an

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even larger pattern or cycle.

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Other than the magic inherent in

the seasons, there was something

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about them that I find very unique.

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Something that I'm not sure

we often consider And that is.

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the repetition of the holidays.

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I don't think the

holidays are an accident.

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I don't know if they are specifically

ordained of God, but they are

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certainly part of the human condition

and have been for a very long time.

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If not from the beginning of time.

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I believe we innately

long for the repetition.

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And what is the purpose of all

these different forms of repetition?

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All these cycles.

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I believe they are to help us to remember.

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To remember Jesus Christ to remember

our freedoms, to remember our

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abundance, our families, our loved ones.

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Every year.

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We remember them all over again.

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And we need to consistently be reminded

of who we are, why we're here, what

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this earth life is about, who God

is and what he has done for us.

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The daily, weekly and yearly

cycles help us to remember.

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I love this.

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I love the cycles.

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I feel like this gives me a

rhythm akin to my heartbeat.

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I think this grounds me to the

earth and helps me to move forward.

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But there is another cycle

that often gets overlooked and

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that is the cycle of the moon.

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And the moon cycle is the

topic for this podcast.

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This cycle is subtle and easy to ignore.

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And I have to wonder if paying

attention to it will even make

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any difference in my life.

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Maybe not.

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But what if I could add depth and

a unique perspective to my life?

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Would that be worth exploring?

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I think so.

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There is a theory that the son

has masculine energy and that

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the moon has feminine energy.

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People go on to say that because we

live in a masculine dominated world,

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women can reclaim their feminine

energy by tuning into the moon cycles.

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Is this true?

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I have no idea.

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But I like the concept because I find

joy connecting with the natural world.

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The truth is I have always been a

little baffled at how to connect

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with the moon cycles without

being affected by the sun cycles.

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Here's my conclusion.

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We can't nor would we want to

I've come to believe that we have

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been given both cycles by design.

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I don't want to cut out

one in favor of the other.

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I am female, but I have

masculine and feminine energy.

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We all do men and women

have both these energies.

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Rather than discount the sun energy.

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My goal is to layer the

moon energy over it.

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So here is the day and the year cycle

of the sun mashed together into one.

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The morning is spring.

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Noon is summer evening is fall.

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And midnight is winter.

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The sun.

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I understand mostly right.

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The good news is the moon

has basically the same cycle.

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Let's start with the new moon.

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technically the moon is

only new for a short moment.

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That moment when the sun and the moon.

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are perfectly aligned in the sky.

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But generally we can count on the

new moon energy lasting for three

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days the day before, the day of,

and the day after the new moon.

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This is said to be a

time for new beginnings.

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A time of introspection, a time to

journal at time for self care, Uh,

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time for organizing our personal space.

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I love all these things.

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And if the moon gives me permission to do

them, I am certainly not going to argue.

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Count me in.

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But that is only a small part

of working with the moon cycle.

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There was also the idea that

while the moon is waxing, Slowly

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providing more and more illumination.

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We can use that energy in our daily lives.

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I like to imagine it

like growing a flower.

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On the new moon, you set your

intention, you get the soil

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ready and you plant the seed.

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This is a period of

rebirth and new beginnings.

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If we were looking at an analog clock,

this would be at the top 12 o'clock.

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During the waxing Crescent, we

moved to the right on our clock.

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Your seed sprouts and sends out roots.

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Your intentions begin to grow.

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At the half moon three o'clock your

sprout is pushing its head above

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the soil and has a good root system.

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It's growing faster.

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Now this is a time for action

decision and commitment.

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At the waxing, gibbous about four 30.

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The seed has grown Ubud

and is beginning to open.

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This is a time for patients.

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Persistence and enhancement.

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Then when we reached the full

moon at six o'clock, our flour is

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fully formed, completely open and

sharing its beauty with the world.

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So that is the first

half of the moon cycle.

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Now, how do we use this

in our everyday lives?

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Let me explain my understanding.

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I imagine you've been asked

to give a talk in church.

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Don't panic.

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This is just an example.

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The new moon.

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would be the first step.

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Where you pick your topic,

start thinking of ideas.

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The waxing Crescent would be

beginning to gather information.

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Reading talks and finding quotes.

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We learn a bunch don't we,

this is like growing roots.

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At the waxing half-moon our

notes are beginning to pile up.

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It's time to make decisions.

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We pick the best quotes.

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We do the work of writing our talk.

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Then at the waxing gibbous

if we haven't procrastinated.

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We have a time to Polish our talk

and to practice our presentation.

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Next is the full moon.

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This is when we present

what we have created.

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This is the summer when we

have fully bloomed and are

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shining our light to the world.

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So that's my representation of

the first half of the moon cycle.

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Now.

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I don't know about you.

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But I don't think I have

ever been assigned a talk

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that coincided with the moon.

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And if I tried to schedule my

life around the moon, I don't

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think I would get anything done.

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This is where I get baffled about how to

apply the moon energy idea to my life.

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This led me to ponder what I could do.

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For me.

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I have decided to play with the idea

of giving myself personal assignments

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that can coincide with the moon.

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These would be when it's convenient

and when it seems like it would work.

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These will just be an experiment.

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Can I notice any difference

and working with the moon

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energy instead of ignoring it?

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I'm doing this because I believe

in cycles, I believe in repetition

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and I believe in moon energy, the

so-called feminine energy must have

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a purpose, even if only subtle.

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If possible, I want to learn from it.

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So here I go.

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Let me share with you my current

self assigned moon cycle project.

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Because it's November the

month of Thanksgiving, this

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great holiday of the harvest.

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I have given myself the

task of exploring gratitude.

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What happens?

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What sprouts, what grows.

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I won't know for two weeks

until my next podcast comes out.

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This is just what I'm doing.

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If you are interested in exploring

moon energy with me, you can

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do it with anything you want.

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From how you do the laundry to

how you read your scriptures.

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It's your choice.

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For me, it's going to be gratitude.

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And because we are right here

at the new moon, let me set some

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intentions, plant some seeds of this

new beginning by sharing with you.

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Some of my current

thoughts about gratitude.

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A few years ago, my fabulous

man, and I spent some time

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exploring Sequoia national park.

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The morning of our departure, we set a

prayer for safe travels and we headed

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down the mountains on our long drive home.

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Partway down a minivan turned right

in front of us and we T-boned.

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Knocking the van on its side and

pancaking the front of my truck.

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The airbags went off, there was smoke.

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I couldn't get the door open.

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It was terrifying.

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Miraculously all parties

involved were safe.

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We were battered and bruised But

honestly, I was just grateful to be alive.

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It was that bad of an accident.

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At this point, there was nothing

I could do, but wait for the

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police and the tow truck.

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Because of how remote we were.

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It was a long wait.

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And the longer I waited, the more

I found myself getting angry.

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I began to suspect the driver of the

minivan had been on his cell phone.

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Why else would he do something so dumb?

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And this dummy had just totaled my

truck and yes, insurance would cover it.

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But they never give quite enough.

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And then there was the trouble

of finding a new vehicle.

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And how are we going to get home?

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We were miles away without a car.

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All these thoughts were

stomping through my mind.

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Then I recalled a few weeks earlier when

an energy therapist had suggested I might

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be suffering from feelings of resentment.

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At the time I was surprised.

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I didn't think I was resentful.

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But the more I thought about it,

the more I identified a little

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resentments things like technology.

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Technology makes me crazy.

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You just get it figured

out and it changes.

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And when I get stuck, I feel so helpless.

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I had to admit that

technology made me resentful.

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So I set out on a path of

ridding myself of resentment.

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And how exactly do you do that?

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I decided gratitude was the best antidote.

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And that when resentment came along,

I would smother it with gratitude.

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Which brings me back to the accident.

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There I was sitting at the side

of the road and I could feel the

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resentment building inside of me for

this dumb kid who had Ruined my life.

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Right.

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But because I was prepared.

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Because I had a plan.

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I dug in my purse and found a pen

and an old envelope, and I began to

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write down anything and everything.

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I was grateful for.

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It turned out to be one of the

greatest experiences of my life.

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Those, I don't know, 10 to 15 minutes of

gratitude made the whole accident easier.

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So my self assigned task for

the first half of the November.

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Lunation.

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Do you like that word?

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Lew nation?

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I just learned it.

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It refers to the days of the lunar cycle.

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So my first task for the November

lunation is to explore gratitude.

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I want to ponder gratitude with all my

senses, how it feels smells and even

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tastes and how it looks and sounds.

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I plan to do this while tuning into

the waxing energy of the moon, this

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time of growing light and illumination.

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I plan to gather ideas and insights,

whatever comes into my life.

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I want to pay attention to new people, new

books, new podcasts, new opportunities.

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I want to see if I can tap

into the building momentum of

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light and explore what I find.

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I want to examine what I learn and

assess how gratitude makes me feel.

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And by the waxing gibbous I hope

to have my thoughts in a forum.

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I can share with you on the full moon.

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That's my plan.

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If you're interested, perhaps you

will join me for this experiment.

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Either way I will let you know what

I've learned in my next podcast.

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No pressure.

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Right.

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then in that same podcast, I will talk

about the second half of the moon cycle.

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So here we go.

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Let's see what happens.

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Judy, and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes.

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As we talk about the lessons

we've been learning while we

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navigate this journey of life.

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If you liked this podcast.

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Thank you so much for

sharing it with a friend.

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And consider If you shoot for

the moon, even if you miss it,

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you will land among the stars.

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Nama stay.