Yesterday evening as I walked home I noticed the full moon. I could see the markings on it perfectly. I thought it was beautiful.
Later on, I was speaking to a friend and she told me she had been up half the night with her son as he wakes up every month, like clockwork, when its a full moon. She told me the moon isn't beautiful to her. "More like creepy", she said. "That big face stares at me and laughs". "But your son also loves the ocean", I reminded her, "and there would be no tides if there was no moon...." And there it is right there. The duality of life. (Not to mention me on the verge of sounding shiny/happy... heaven forbid!!) But it's true. We wouldn't value happiness if we couldn't experience sadness. If we couldn't feel fear, we would not know the thrill when we act with courage. And of course, there would be no great pain in loss if there wasn't a great love that preceded it. Everything has two sides. Ive been really affected this week by the words of Connie Johnson. For those who dont know her story, she is an incredibly brave woman who has been battling cancer for years. Together with her brother, Samuel Johnson, they have created a charity called Love Your Sister which has to date raised over $5 million for cancer research. Recently she announced that she was stopping chemo, and she said of her children: "My pain will [soon] be over. And theirs will just be beginning". I cried when I read it, because of course it's true. In beginnings there are endings, and in endings beginnings. But what's also true is what her brother said. "Anything truly wonderful comes at a cost". And there are two ways of looking at that too.... The cost... or the wonderful. I think when we notice the wonderful and are grateful for it - even if we have it for way too brief a time and at first when we lose it it seems so unfair - in the long run, the price we pay for having had it at all will never seem too high. There's a dark side to the moon. But even the thinnest crest of a new moon lights up the night... and brings in the tide.
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AuthorFiona is a writer, consultant to government and not for profits and former cynic turned yogi. Archives
June 2017
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