Full Thunder Moon

The full moon of July is called ameku, the mid-summer moon, by the Kalapuya of our area, and the thunder moon by others. July days have the humming energy of a summer storm. It's a month of passion and activity: I'm challenged to find integrity in my actions and expand into my Truth.

The sun is at the peak of its power, lighting all corners with its radiance, and burning away all non-essentials. We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda: 

1. Take a vision walk

2. Read Brainstorm
3. Clarify my passion plan
4. Four days of passion

4. Celebrate slow passion and courage

1. Take a vision walk:
The full moon shines a bright light on everything, and I might experience intuitive and creative breakthroughs. I might be shocked by the clarity of my insights. I might see some ugliness - the full moon illuminates all the things I've left in the shadows, some heavy truths and some embarrassing mistakes.

Today I'm going to settle in to silence and access my intuitive mind - my connection to the Creator and the Inner Guide -  and seek a leading of the spirit with an open mind and heart.

I call on the Spirit of Light to guide me, bring me clarity and open my eyes. What is the Truth that is coming into focus for me now?

 

What is bringing passion, expansion, and inspiration in my life now?

Am I following my deepest dreams and desires? If not, why is that? What is the hold up? 

 

When I experience inertia or anxiety, how do I respond?

 

What are the risks I'm called to take, and how can I find the commitment to act on them? How can I embrace my full potential? 

  

2. Read "Brainstorm":

I got this book called "Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsession" (2010), by my favorite writing and art guru, Eric Maisel, several years ago, and started but never got far. This seems like the right time to dive in!

Chapter 12 is Early Daze. He warns that I may have uneven energy (and that has been true), or doubt the rightness of my choice (not true!), or lack the passion I need. 

In fact, I've been waking up too early, already writing in my head - I've had to force myself to cool the passion a bit in order to get enough sleep! I've put lots of other important work on the back burner, and that has created some anxiety and regret. 

"Productive obsessing is a marathon, not a sprint. ... we are not always tackling it at the highest possible speed, ... but we are moving along at a decent clip, paying attention, ... engaged, goal-oriented, and dealing with what is probably mounting pressure. The race is on and we are responding."

3. Review my passion plan:

Drive: I intend to manifest my courage, harness the power of productive obsession, and engage slow passion, a kind of simmering energy that keeps me focused on my priorities; 

Commitment: I intend to let go of caution and involve myself wholeheartedly (brain, body, and soul) to the service of this project that I love; take a vacation from my usual way of being, stretch (my whole self) beyond the way I’ve always done things;

Concentration: I intend to strategize about how to self-regulate and manage my emotions, and learn how to extinguish distractions (such as phone games and worrying) so I can concentrate; simplify my thinking, and conserve the use of my neural resources;

Clarity: I intend to maintain clarity of purpose, keep the end in mind, monitor my energy level and feeling of successful meaning-making, and recommit often to my ideals, intentions, and efforts (I'm doing this, damn it!).

Flow: And I intend to work the parts of this project into the flow of my day (flow in and out of it easily and smoothly), plan when to say yes and when to say no, and let it reach into all my roles - teacher, grandma, activist, writer, artist, home and garden - take it slow and let it grow organically.

4. Five days of passion: 
I'm committed to experimenting with passion through this whole month, but I'll take it week by week! The next five days (Thursday through Monday) are the best block of time I have to obsess.

This week I'll re-double my effort to define how I can work the parts of the Project into all my life roles, and make a better plan for how to deal with my yellow pad notes - perhaps I need to type them up and stick them into the book every evening? Also, I'll highlight the non-Project priorities and schedule them.

This week my Nature-Culture themes are plastics and butterflies:

• Practice creative summer awareness exercises - bee buzzing, tree hugging, water sitting;
• Draw a butterfly, following parameters, and place it on mock up page.
• Write about how to plan a butterfly garden, natural living habits and plastic use;
• Garden: Mulch new butterfly beds and draw up a plan, start a new hugelkulture. 
• Plan summer themes, projects, and skills for teaching nature-culture to kids
• Post plastics recycling news
• Connect with Habitat Haven and make a pollinator page for outreach to neighbors

4. Celebrate: 

Today I remind myself of my intentions, and then celebrate my accomplishments and reaffirm this theme for the next two weeks. I am ready to celebrate passion and courage in these ways:

1. Sew my Coat of Many Earth Colors 

2. Mulch a new butterfly bed 

3. Get a crazy Writer-Sage summer haircut