The Moon at Dawn

I was driving along the Cape Cod highway last week and was in absolute awe of the moon sitting on the horizon before me. It looked full. Apparently I missed the full moon by one day. It was still magnificent. I am not normally driving this route to work, but that day I was certainly happy I was. The moon sat only a few feet above the horizon. As I drove towards it, with trees on both sides of me and no one in front of me (it was before 6 a.m.), it just held me in wonder. It was so big. (The moon looks the biggest when it is at its lowest point in the sky.) It was so beautiful. In that moment of beauty, nothing else in this world mattered.

Have you ever had a moment like that? It is a feeling of tranquility. A good friend of mine once told me about an exercise he had recently learned and asked me to try it. He told me to go outside when the sun is shining and spread my arms out wide. Then tilt my head back to the sky and see how I reacted. He said I would smile and it would be hard not to smile. It worked. I remember smiling. I remember feeling the smile start and the more I thought of it, the bigger that smile became. It felt like I was a little kid, a kid with a silly smile on my face for no reason at all.

I believe that this exercise only works for those who have the strength to let go completely. Let go of everything completely, for that one moment. Life is just a string of moments, all tied together. The more moments you can enjoy, the more you can enjoy life. If we can let go of all the stresses we carry, this can be one moment where we can smile. We can smile just because. And this moment will be won.

I seem to have the ability to let go of everything pretty easily so that I can enjoy more of my life’s moments. Moments as little as a setting moon at dawn. I get to have a moment every time I hear the words to a certain Snow Patrol song: “If I lay here. If I just lay here. Would you lie with me and just forget the world?” Forget the world. Enjoy more of your moments.

Coach Randal Suozzo, CPC, ELI-MP