First Quarter Moon of August

Tonight is 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 August quarter moon's energy to help me to discern my path, and then act on it; this requires clarity.

Agenda Today:

1. Journal queries
2. Read "How to Manifest"

3. Make a full effort plan
4. Write a mission haiku

1. Journal queries:

Today, at the first quarter moon, I prepare to give full effort to my priorities. I remember that for each opportunity in life there is a challenge. The challenge to depth is ignorance and confusion. If I'm uninformed, I cannot be truly conscious, and if I'm mystified about the direction to take, I can't be aware of the next step. Practice centering and seeing clearly.

What potential challenges, restrictions, limitations, and obstacles do I face this week and month? How can I best meet these challenges?

What is foggy on my path, and what is the clarity I am seeking?

What are my highest values? If I follow them to the deepest place of love, joy, generosity, fulfillment and peace, what work do they point to that I am to do for others?

From my journal: I'm really ready to take a new direction in leadership, and I'm almost clear on the nest steps. I've sought council, and I'm reading lots of good books for guidance. I'm confident that way will open.

2. Read "How to Manifest":

I'm reading a book called "How to Manifest", by Laura Chung; it's a 40 day program to "Make Your Dreams a Reality". 

The third part of the book (Week 3) is about Healing Our Beliefs. The author suggests that I go inward and do a complete inventory of my belief systems, fears and anxieties, and any other limitations that are holding me back.

Day 15 - Honoring the Past: "I believe you are simultaneously healing your past while creating a better future. ...something within you must change. Whether it's a shift in your perspective, your beliefs, your neural pathways, or all of the above. ... You can heal your past by healing your perception of it."

I think that the shift I need to make is to acknowledge and grieve the wrongs of my people, my ancestors - the havoc they wreaked on the earth, to other people, and to the Divine, in the name of our God. I started this process last year before Halloween with a Sabbath for Souls, and now I'm thinking about writing a lamentation for the earth, as a way to help me move on. "We are meant to flow with life and extract the wisdom from each experience, and to not hold on and define ourselves based on what happened in the past."

Day 16 - Forgiveness: In this chapter she suggests that I set aside resistance, become expansive, and identify those I need to forgive in order to move forward. And she also reminds me that forgiveness isn't linear: I will need to forgive again, as old pains resurface. 

Forgiveness is a process of realigning how you understand the past. "When you heal your perceptions, you create your reality, and that heals the environment around you."

Day 17 - Subconscious Programming: Here she talks about the unconscious beliefs that limit us. The subconscious mind is "a system of commands that is at the back burner of our psyche. It dictates the show..." and we developed this system when we were very young, based on experiences we had in our first 7 years of life.

For me, this manifests as strong skepticism: I cannot fool my subconscious mind with affirmations like "I am brave". I need to start with statements of truth such as "I am opening the door to courage". And I need to keep asking myself, where does this limiting belief come from? What is underneath? With curiosity and creativity, I can rewire my subconscious programming.

3. Make a full effort plan: 

I'm thinking today about full effort as an Earthcare leader. I'm somewhat of a reluctant leader; like many introverts, I feel compelled to step outside my comfort zone and offer service in this way, because it needs to be done. I have some skills, but could use more. 

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 intention is to lead others to a deeper understanding of how to find better unity with Nature, by offering many opportunities to worship with the Earth, and learn, communicate, and work on Earthcare, because Nature needs us to be better partners. I want to engage more of the Meeting than just the few who attend the Earthcare group, and create an opening for all levels of commitment and action. I also want to start an ongoing conversation (especially about climate change and how it impacts everything), throughout the Meeting, and make Earthcare a part of EFM's identity.

I've just had a clearness meeting with friends, so now I'm ready to make a plan! 

My plan has 3 parts:

1. Continue to lead our monthly Earthcare Support group, but send out a reading and a query, and focus the discussion a bit more. Also, better utilize the support the group offers me. The goal is to provide a venue of support for both emotional and practical growth.
   
2. Produce a weekly blog entry with a query and reading, a small, tangible action suggestion, and lots of artwork. It will have the overarching theme of climate change, and how it impacts everything, but will follow seasonal topics, and I will post it on the web site, the announcements, on Facebook, and in print. The goal is to educate the community, and build interest and commitment with Earthcare issues.
3. Organize a monthly Earthcare Sunday, with an outdoor worship when the weather allows, followed by an Earthcare Afterword, that could be a speaker, or a craftivism project, or a worship discussion. The goal is to engage a wider number of us, start an ongoing discussion throughout the Meeting,  and make Earthcare a part of EFM's identity, which might attract more like-minded souls.

3. Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm looking at my mission to Witness. 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:

I intend to be a witness to the world by speaking truth through my words and actions, and leading by example (with humility and tenderness), because my main mission in life is to be a creative force for change.

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

Speak up, broaden my views, teach, listen, lead, discern way forward, create a transformation

 

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

Witness, Love, Unity with Nature, Celebration and Play, Creativity, Learning, Purpose, Community, Service

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.

Small seeds,

planted with love,

sprout and grow in the Light.

Tended humbly and tenderly: 

Witness.