As I stared at the full moon the other night, I thought about a question my 8-year old daughter Zawadi asked me not too long ago: “why do you love the moon so much?”. At the time my response to her was something along the lines of “because she illuminates the sky, because her cycles make sense and inspire me, because she has the power to move oceans, because she is always with me.”
But I now realize there is another reason for my love of mama moon: It is because she teaches me to learn to reflect the light of others. The moon couldn’t illuminate itself, it is through the reflection of the sun’s light that she is able to shine so brightly.
What if I made a conscious decision to live my life in this way? Choosing to reflect the light of others. Not in a trite, superficial, see only the good sort of way, but truly focused on reflecting the goodness and inherent light of others?
On this full moon, at the end of this very trying year, as we begin anew tomorrow, I’d like to make that commitment to myself. First to release more of the clutter, judgement, rumination that so often fills my brain to make room for being able to be fully present for people. More importantly to listen deeply enough so that I can see their light, and reflect it back in presence (most importantly) and in words (if there is room for that).
As an aspiring naturalist, reflecting the light of the more-than-human world comes easy to me. The more challenging part will be to bring that sort of pure presence and willingness to seek beauty to my fellow humans :) This is my resolution, my proposed practice, the challenge and delight before me. In 2021 and in all the years to come.
Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, ‘you owe me’.
Look what happens with a love like that,
It lights up the whole sky.
- Hafiz
[Photo taken by Zulayka: Sunrise at Carolina Beach on the Winter Solstice 2020]
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