Where the Green Grass Grows

Lately, I have been feeling out of sorts. I picked up several extra shifts at work to help out, and I ended up working 6 days a week, and the 7th day I was seeing Reiki clients for weeks. My job is part-time, by the way. Things were starting to become overwhelming. All of the routines I have been committed to just fell by the wayside. I haven't seen my friends in weeks, and some days I was only seeing my kids during the school drop-off, which all parents know is no fun for anyone, especially for two night owls like myself and my 13-year-old. It occurred to me on the Super Blue Harvest Full Moon (that's a mouth full) that I haven’t been outside all summer. This was the first year in forever that we didn’t take a vacation, and now summer is over, the kids are back in school, and I am feeling burned out. I enjoy my job, so it’s easy to pick up shifts without realizing I am putting a corporate machine before myself and my family.

In the book “The Top Five Regrets of Dying” by Bronnie Ware, describes the second top regret as the regret of working too much. Not seeing the importance of spending time with those you love and doing things that make you happy. She was a home hospice nurse for years and heard the same five regrets time and again. The book is life-changing and everyone should read it.

We should all be working to live and not living to work. We are magical freaking beings! When you zoom out and look at the big picture, you realize how incredible it is that we are even alive on a spinning rock in an infinite galaxy of space and time. We are here to create and enjoy life, yet many of us are stuck in jobs we are overqualified for, working for bosses we hate, not making ends meet, you get the picture. There are very few of us living authentically.

I made a promise to myself on New Year's Eve 2024 that I would show up as my most authentic self from here on out. Time is moving way too fast to do anything but be yourself. So, this brings me back to the full moon. I have been doing full moon and new moon rituals, along with celebrating the pagan wheel of the year and changes in nature for years. Lately, I have been too tired to bother. So when I missed the full moon this week out of pure exhaustion, I decided I needed to get grounded back into my body. So the day after the full moon and my first day off with nothing to do in forever, I took my family to the Clinton Library to lay in the grass and watch the sunset on the bridge. Then an impromptu decision led us to a spot nearby to watch the moon rise. It was a school night, and we didn’t intend on staying out until nearly 10 pm, but we did, and it was so worth it. The moon was still 97% full, and being a super-moon gave it the appearance of being 5 times bigger than normal. When it came up above the horizon, it looked like a sun rise instead of a moon rise. It was giant and red, it was absolutely incredible and just what I needed, and I’d argue to say what my kids needed too. I didn’t bring my phone, so we don’t have any pictures of the moon, but I didn’t want a picture anyway, it wouldn’t have done it justice.

Disconnecting from technology and immersing oneself in nature, witnessing the sunset

or the moonrise, provides a sense of grounding. Resting on the gentle grassy slopes feels like a warm embrace from the Earth, serving as a reminder of our inherent connection to the world around us. This contrasts with the artificiality of fluorescent lights, dealing with difficult customers, incessant noises, excessive screen time, scrolling through social media, and fretting over

uncontrollable factors. The true highlight was the beauty of nature and the vastness of the universe. The experience was so fulfilling that the 13-year-old and I returned for a twilight picnic to relish in the refreshing ambiance of the grassy surroundings. XX~Liz