Mother's Day and First Quarter Moon

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870 

“Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies, our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe our dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace... each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God - 

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient and the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.” ~ Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe was a writer and a suffragette. She wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870 to promote world peace. In 1873 she campaigned (unsuccessfully) for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2. Other women also worked to promote a national Mother's Day, but Julia's approach is my favorite.

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.

I use this May quarter moon's energy to find joy in just being alive.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Make a full effort plan

3. Write a mission haiku

4. Practice visualization

5. Call my Mom

1. Journal queries:

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

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 feel patience, peace, and calm contentment? 

What do I really want for Mother’s Day?  Plan three things to do for myself today to honor my role as a mother, and to bring myself peace and joy.

 

From my journal: My top action items this next week are to prepare to leave town for my son's wedding, and then celebrate with family! It's going to be a highly social week, so I will need a recovery plan in place. And I want to get clearer on the difference between my natural introversion (which is part of my personality) and my social anxiety (which is a mental health issue), and how to manage both.

2. Make a full effort plan: 

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.

My full effort plan is:

1. Wedding preparation: Make a comprehensive list of what needs doing (Duck and dog care, haircut, manicure, dress and leggings, new coat, packing, clean yard and house...) and then schedule time each day to do the work.
2. Social plan: I want to talk to everyone - my family and my new family-in-law - but as an introvert I can quickly get exhausted. I'm going to write up a cheat sheet:

• Pace myself (take breaks to walk in the garden or retreat to my room)
• Remember to breathe
• Disengage from the action every now and then to look at the scene and take photos.
• To reduce the anxiety of meeting new people, use it as a chance to practice my listening and memory skills.
• Memorize a list of conversation starters ("What part of town do you live in? Do you have kids/grandkids? What things do you do in your free time?)
• I've also heard that if I can fake extroversion (pretend to be relaxed, sociable, talkative, easygoing, and enthusiastic) I will enjoy social situations more, because of "the positive social feedback that being gregarious and extraverted elicits from others" and also because laughing actually does reduce stress.

3: Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm going to look at Comfort with Social Interaction, because after two years of relative reclusively, I'm finding it a bigger challenge to be with large groups of people. I've always been awkward in groups, and now it's worse than ever.

But I love my various communities and my family, so I want to feel comfortable with them, have fun, and not feel exhausted afterwards. I also want to be open to meeting new friends (and family members) without being anxious. 

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:

Comfort with Social Interaction requires equanimity and self-awareness - I don't need to be the life of the party, but I can relax and have fun if I stay in the moment. And I can look for the openings to make new bonds.

 

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

Breathe, listen and heed, engage, renew and create friendships, celebrate love, feel joy

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

Love, Equanimity, Unity, Celebration and Play

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.

Grounded on the earth,

Celebrating LOVE with joy;

Two families joined.

4. Practice visualization:

I call on the practice of visualization to help bring my goals to fruition. 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 equanimity, meet and greet new people and family, able to pace myself and maintain my energy - 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, "I am grounded on the earth, feeling the Love."

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.

5. Call Mom