“Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present. He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
What energy did you find and release during the Harvest Moon? With Mercury in retrograde, I’ve lost track of anything the moon might have whispered to me. Instead, I focus on my daily meditations, using the deep ocean breath to drown out the cacophony of the rest of our wayward world. These days the noise seems to be getting louder, the distractions more numerous and challenging. It’s at these times when meditation matters most, when it becomes the highlight and break in the day for 25 minutes of silence.
While I prefer silence for my meditation, some people like to use ambient music as a guide for both their timeframe and something on which to focus. Here’s a Harvest Moon meditation track, and some words far wiser than any I could string together.
“If you know how to be happy with the wonders of life that are already there for you to enjoy, you don’t need to stress your mind and your body by striving harder and harder, and you don’t need to stress this planet by purchasing more and more stuff. The Earth belongs to our children. We have already borrowed too much from it, from them; and the way things have been going, we’re not sure we’ll be able to give it back to them in decent shape. And who are our children, actually? They are us, because they are our own continuation. So we’ve been shortchanging our own selves. Much of our modern way of life is permeated by mindless overborrowing. The more we borrow, the more we lose. That’s why it’s critical that we wake up and see we don’t need to do that anymore. What’s already available in the here and now is plenty for us to be nourished, to be happy. Only that kind of insight will get us, each one of us, to stop engaging in the compulsive, self-sabotaging behaviors of our species. We need a collective awakening. One Buddha is not enough. All of us have to become Buddhas in order for our planet to have a chance. Fortunately, we have the power to wake up, to touch enlightenment from moment to moment, in our very own ordinary and, yes, busy lives. So let’s start right now. Peace is your every breath.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
