March First Quarter Moon

Photo by Alan Gillespie

At the First Quarter Moon we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. Kiki Ely, in her book Living Lunerly, says, "A good way to remember this is by looking at the perfect line of shadow down the moon's center: this is the moment to draw a firm line, boundary, or decision in your life and stick to it."

I use this March quarter moon's energy to be really present in my body, and do the work - less dreaming and more creating, digging, cleaning, writing, biking, and playing! 

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Make a Full Effort Plan

3. Write a mission haiku

4. Practice visualization

1. Journal queries:

Today, at the first quarter moon, I prepare to give full effort to my priorities. 

Which of my priorities am I having the most trouble acting on this month?

What potential challenges and obstacles do I face this week and month (things I don’t enjoy, don’t know how to do, or feel blocked on)? How can I best meet these challenges?

What do I need in order to improve my strength (body, mind, spirit) and resilience?

2. Make a full effort plan: 

Full effort (sometimes called exertion) is one of the steps of mental discipline on Buddha’s eightfold path. Buddha was urging full effort for awakening the mind; a first step is to practice full effort for whatever is most important in your life right now - for your priorities.

Full effort requires:

-Attention: You remember your intentions - what it is you want to do and your deepest reasons why - and also notice your emotions, energy, challenges, etc. (I build energy for my priorities by reviewing them throughout the day.) 

-A spark of energy and determination: You connect to your excitement for life, and sustain it long enough to accomplish your priorities. (When the time comes to act on one of my priorities I lean in to it with excitement and curiosity.) 

-Balance: You hold your intentions lightly in the complexity of life. If you are driven to complete everything on your list at all costs, you may miss an opportunity to grow, to open your heart, to find peace within.

From my journal: My top action items this week are the garden (planting, weeding, building a trellis and a wall...), preparations for the Climate Revolutions Rhody Ride next Sunday, and my ongoing Lent actions to become better rooted in Creation. 

My full effort plan is:

1. Garden Project: Make a detailed backwards calendar, continue to discuss and negotiate, and work in the garden every day, doing one step at a time with attention and love. (This might seem basic, but I need the reminder...)
2. Rhody Ride: Make a list of what needs still doing (make buttons, write a talk, publicize again...) then schedule time each day to do the work.
3. Lent: Brainstorm a list of creative action items, and begin to plug them in to my Lent calendar.

3: Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm going to look at my Lent theme - Rooted in Awareness of Creation and Creator - and write it as a haiku, because a poem has a unique ability of getting to the core of a Truth. Here's the steps I use:

1. Write a brief, evocative sentence or two describing this top mission in my life, and the significant issues that surround it:

Rooted in awareness of Creation and Creator, to fuel my climate justice work with a strong and intimate connection to this land; better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons; nurture and protect the animal and plant people, and create habitat. 

2. List the most exciting or pleasing verbs that describe what I want to do with this mission:

Inspire, interconnect, deepen, protect, defend, nurture, create, grow. 

3. Next, list some core values that go with this mission:

Earthcare, Creativity, Love, Equality, Purpose, Integrity, Witness

4. Turn these sentences, verbs, and values into a haiku, an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (or a Cinquain, which is five lines, with 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables), that gets to the core of my mission, and gives me a framework for my actions.

Rooted

in Creation;

Nurturing and nurtured;

Defending our sanctuary;

Growing.

 

4. Practice visualization:

I call on the practice of visualization to help bring my goals to fruition. Today I choose my top two action goals to shine a light on. Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. It has three steps:

• 
  First, center and relax each part of my body; count from 10 to 1, then open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.
• Second, create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of exactly how our yard and garden will look, and imagine how it will feel to sit in it, and put as much positive energy into the image as possible. 
• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense; for example, "Our garden is a sanctuary for our family, friends, ducks, plants and animals for the rest of our lives."

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (or it's just a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.