First Quarter Moon of April

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 April quarter moon's energy to be centered in myself.

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 stay in balance with social and alone time; thinking and doing; and in harmony with the earth?

From my journal: My top action items this next week are to finish my garden wall, prepare for a wedding shower, and engage calmly with my nearly two-year-old grandson; quite a varied list, but they all require some negotiation, calm energy, and persistence.

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 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.

My full effort plan is:

1. Garden Wall: Continue to discuss and negotiate, and work at it a little every day, one step at a time, with attention and love. Also, pay attention to the soreness of my body - take time off if needed.
2. Wedding shower: Make a list of what needs doing (make guest book, rosettes, paper flowers, punch recipe, prepare flower crowns, favor bags...) and gather all the supplies on the kitchen table, then schedule time each day to do the work.
3. Two-year-old: Brainstorm a list of creative activities and outings, write in my journal to put into words my jumbled feelings, and write a Grandma Mantra for calm energy.

3: Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm going to look again at Being a Grandma, because I've been encountering new obstacles. I'll 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:

Being a Grandma, requires strengths I struggle with: Two-year olds want autonomy  (and also repetition, which bores me!) I need to breathe through the impatience to find calm attention and honest engagement.

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

Breathe, listen and heed, love, engage, explore, create

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

Creativity, Love, Equanimity, Unity

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.

I breathe in calmness.

(listen, heed, engage, create)

Love flows like water.

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 it looks and feels to be engaged fully with calm patience, 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, "My love flows freely like a fountain of calm attention."

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.