74: YOU'RE HAVING A LAUGH....
MON 17 JUNE 09.30 - Mooning Monthly giggles its way to Midsummer.....
Summer Solstice salutations dear Mooners
Midsummer approaches and our Solstice Full Moon rises in Sagittarius this Monday morning as we commence another working week. The Summer Solstice period is always a good time to reflect on the six months of Mooning activity since Midwinter. How many of the intentions and resolutions that we set early in 2019 have started to come to fruition? Can we even remember what those resolutions were?
We here at Mooning HQ suggested under the Capricorn New Moon six months ago (link here) that engaging in a positive, loving dialogue with ourselves was a resolution above all others for the year ahead. This coming week might be a really good one to assess where we are in that discourse. Has progress been made? Six months on, are we more capable of self appreciation or are we still struggling with the issues of low self worth that continued to beleaguer many of us through the first three moons of 2019.
Self Love - the love that truly dare not speak its name for fear of being falsely judged arrogant or conceited - is a gateway to the positive transformation of our life experience. In contrast, our habitual negative thoughts and actions, particularly those directed at ourselves, are mental constraints we place upon ourselves and our circumstances and become self fulfilling prophecies, "...Ohh I could never do that ...I'm sure he'd never want to talk to me ...I'm never going to get a payrise ....the good stuff never happens to me ....etc"
Under a New Moon, such thoughts become unconscious seeds of restrictive intent, indiscriminately sown across the fertile ground of future possibility. With careless repetition of the same negative mantras, those seeds will be nurtured into germination, will take root and sprout as virulent weeds that choke the growth of anything positive we may have planted in the same ground.
Under an intense Full Moon such as Monday's, we can expect an almost instantaneous sprouting of emotional, metaphoric stinging nettles immediately reflecting any negative thoughts, words and actions that we transmit - instant allotment karma as it were. For stingers in the garden read pain and its triggers, causing acute discomfort.
However, this week, with a modicum of self awareness and redemptive good humour, we can intend to observe our thoughts and behaviour without judgement, allowing what we witness to inform a deeper, inner conversation that will determine the qualities of subsequent experience. In recognising the patterns of our negative responses to circumstance, we raise the possibility of change toward a more positive outlook: a very real way of changing the world for the better. To enjoy a positive experience of life, one deliberately thinks, speaks and acts positively It's not rocket science, simply a process of committed self-enquiry that we often refer to in these columns as Mooning.
Under the influence of this Sagittarius Full Moon we can expect initial waves of philosophical, spiritually tinged optimism (irony noted at mooning HQ). We may even feel adventurous in our desire to explore the unknown but, if not tempered by a degree of self-knowledge, that journey is likely to feel a wee bit bumpy. As we embark on and develop new projects, relationships and attitudes in the next fortnight, we may initially stride forward confidently only to find ourselves hopelessly lost shortly afterwards, arrogantly ill prepared for the journey, bereft of a map, the simplest means of navigation and sustenance. Careful planning before launching off into new territories would therefore be well advised this week.
The negative nuances of a Sagittarius Full Moon can be tactless negligence and impatience. Unprepared to accept the responsibility for our self induced predicaments, we will regularly devote time and energy to finding someone else to blame. Applying such a victim mentality to the relationship with ourselves can only lead down the cul-de-sac of self loathing. It's a personally tailored, bespoke prison dear Mooners, so let's not go there.
Fortunately, there are a couple of permanently accessible Get Out of Jail Free cards should we ever find ourselves up that blind alley without a reverse gear.
The first is kindness.
The second is laughter.
Most of us are capable of acts of kindness towards others. Generally speaking, being an obedient cub scout/brownie and committing to a 'good deed' every day makes us feel unmistakably good about ourselves. However, most of us don't exhibit that same generosity of spirit and action toward ourselves. Our mistakes, shortcomings and disappointments become part of the narrative which we remorselessly entrench as our lot in life. We rarely give ourselves the positive benefit of the doubt or, heaven forbid, forgiveness for the frailties of being human.
Stuff happens, some of it feels enjoyable, some of it looks pretty shitty but ultimately whatever unfolds around and within us is just stuff happening. To turn essentially neutral occurrences against ourselves by identifying with a negative thought/belief about what's happening is gratuitous self sabotage. To develop a default setting of kindness to oneself is an immediate antidote.
And then there's the ultimate anti-venom - laughter: possibly the greatest medicine known to man and increasingly scientifically proven to be so (article link here). We here at Mooning HQ describe three types of laughter: social, internal and essential.
Social laughter - fairly obviously, expressed in the joyful presence of others. A connected, communal blessing indeed.
Internal laughter - alongside the inner dialogue that we wholeheartedly champion in the unapologetic practice of audibly talking to oneself on a regular basis, runs the complementary ability to find oneself and one's circumstances funny. That's not funny odd. We're highlighting one's own inherent ability to see the genuinely humorous nature of one's life: a personal, living joke that no one else could ever understand. No one else will ever 'get it' and that alone makes it frickin' hilarious. It's the laugh that cherishes time alone to enjoy the joke, recognising the unique nature of your perfection with all its contradictory, farcical flaws. This laughter connects with the freak that you are, always will be and should learn to love....lols.
Essential laughter - there is a laughing, light-ness at the heart of existence. When we manage to still the chatter of our noisy minds, we here at Mooning HQ are convinced we can hear a babbling, giggling brook of sparkling, crystal clear spring water situated in the ethereal landscape just before one encounters complete silence. The flow never dries up, never ceases chuckling at the preposterous beauty of existence and the ultimate gag of all time: separation. The little chortling stream runs over and through everything. It might be called love. Its laughter is intelligence itself and cackles recognisably in our own inimitable voice and image. It is our connection to our true unified nature, our greater Self - the Grand Joker that encompasses all.
The suggestion under this Midsummer Sagittarius Full Moon is to find a quiet moment or two to sit still, calm your thoughts a tad by concentrating fully on your breathing, then piss yourself with laughter at what you discover.
" Titter ye not " - Frankie Howard, 'Up Pompeii' 1971
On a separate, but ultimately connected note, fellow Mooner Bob Weighton, our community elder and currently the oldest man in England at 111 years of age, has been Mooning on Radio 4 this week. On Monday 10th June a 15 minute interview with the great man was broadcast in the programme, Living Memory - Like Children fighting over Toys, available to listen now on BBC website and Sounds app (link here). He has an inspirational influence on this column, is an astounding, wise man of peace and well worth a listen. We love and salute you Robert Grant Pitts Weighton.
With love 'til next time
