Alright, people! Nolly here from La Boheme. It’s the third issue which means that it’s La Boheme’s one month anniversary. This doesn’t really mean anything but I’m currently trying to encourage myself and see the bright side because I’ve been feeling quite uninspired this past week.
See, I actually started off this week knowing full well what I was going to write about and was excited about the idea until I sat in front of my laptop and just felt a big blahhh. I had made a note on my phone about this topic a while back and was waiting for the time to write about it. The idea was to write about my love for looking up to the sky and spotting and gazing at the moon. I’m aware that some of you might relate to this and some of you might not because it might seem a bit too cheesy and too Instagram-picture- “People who look at the moon are my people”-esque and it’s just too predictable and might feel like someone is trying too hard to be poetic (sorry- i can be quite a harsh judge at times).
And I mean, looking at the moon is quite poetic, except to me, it comes almost like a reflex. I step out at night - or in the morning because sometimes you can see it earlier - and I might have an errand to run or going to meet people and the minute I actually tune in to the present moment and realize it’s time for a big ball of silver to be shining in the night sky, I look up and try to find it. This happens especially when I’m walking because walking generally helps me tune in with myself and my thoughts. Mind you, looking up while walking can be a bit hazardous but oh well, living on the edge can be fun.
I’m not sure when I started developing this, but I believe it was bound to happen. As a person, I love fantasies. I love imagining them, living them, painting them, hopefully writing about them, etc. I remember watching “A trip to the Moon” in college, which is deemed one of the first fantasy/sci-fi movies in the history of film create by Georges Melies, and thinking that I could definitely relate to this vision of the moon.
Obviously, it’s an absurd vision of life on the moon, but other than the fantasy land it created through the amazing sets and effects used for the time it was created in, it placed us, inhabitants of earth, as part of a much bigger picture. This is exactly one of the main associations with moon gazing for me. It’s about realizing that you’re part of this big universe which a lot of still remains quite mysterious to us. To this day, scientist are making new discoveries and trying to figure out other universes and looking for sings of life outside of our universe and planets.
To me, gazing at the moon is quite humbling because you realize that a. you’re quite minuscule in the grand scheme of things (not to say that your imprint can’t be huge in this world); and b. it opens your eyes to the beauty that is around you that you often take for granted.
The moon has a very calming effect. There’s a lot of mellowness that moon energy gives off. In a lot of cultures and traditions, the moon is a representation of feminine energy, in opposition to the sun’s energy which is masculine. By that I don’t mean necessarily women vs. men, since we all have both masculine and feminine energies within us. Feminine energy is usually considered the acts of being, feeling, flowing - there’s a lot of ease that is associated with it. Masculine energy is just as the sun, more fiery: it’s the doing, thinking, moving, etc. There’s a reason why this saying exists.
What I mean to say after this longish intro without sounding too “new age” is that in life, it’s all about balance and perspective.
Balance
Of course, being an insufferable Libra, I have to talk to anyone and everyone about balance. Balancing your life and with that your decisions between heart and mind is what this phrase is telling us. Obviously each person’s inclination is different, but some people tend to make decisions following pure reason and logic, others following their heart and emotions. The optimum here is to balance both those in your life. Sometimes you need to give reason the reigns, others you can lead your heart lead. As long as you open your eye and your mind to your surroundings.
Perspective
Among all my many shortcomings, one strength I acknowledge about myself is that I can often see from other people’s perspective. I give credit here also to me being a Libra but I’d like to tie this back to the moon as well. There’s always two sides to the moon: the bright side, which reflects the light from the sun and lights up the night sky, and the dark side which we don’t see and is hidden from us. Scientifically speaking, the moon is actually quite bleak. It’s essentially a big grey rock that orbits our earth. It’s only because it can reflect the sun’s light that it looks so beautiful to us.
This tells us a lot.
Like the moon, we all have two sides: a lighter and darker one. The lighter one being what we prefer to showcase to others, especially outside of our comfort zone of people. That doesn’t mean that the darker side is evil, dark isn’t synonymous with evil, but we all have our battles to fight. It’s sometimes good to embrace darkness in order to come back to the light.
We are sometimes nothing without others. I understand that some people prefer being alone, working alone, but the moon teaches us that things can seem way brighter and more beautiful with the help of others.
Things in life don’t always look like what they seem. Like the moon, things might sometimes seem more beautiful than they actually are and when you get nearer, you see their true shape and color. Other things might look quite bleak and ugly, but when you look more carefully, they’re quite beautiful and enriching.
I realize now that I’m painting the moon as such a wise teacher - and it definitely is. Not only can we learn a lot from it, but it also gives us a monthly chance of renewal and recharging with its cycle.
I realize also now that this might seem like a continuation to the previous issue, in which I implored us all to look into nature for lessons and wisdom and I guess it happened without me realizing it. But that’s good, at least there’s a kind of theme crystallizing here. When I first started writing this - two days ago while I was sitting under a tree at the sporting club visited by passerby kitties every now and then, this is not how I had envisioned the newsletter to be. But I guess I took a page out of the moon’s book and just allowed myself to go with the flow and listen to my heart (and my stream of consciousness).
And with that I bid you a dieu. Have a great two weeks, until we meet again.
xoxo
Nolly