The Deceptive Shadow

A few days ago, a full moon shined brightly in the sky.

Here’s the thing. The moon is always full. The moon is always in the sky. And the moon is always shining brightly. It is just that I don’t always see the moon that way. The way it always is.

Call it intellect, knowledge, experience or wisdom, there is something within me that understands and believes that the moon is always full, even though it is rarely visible that way to me.

The moon is a metaphor for life.

Call it intellect, knowledge, experience or wisdom, there is something within me that understands and believes that my life is always full, even though it is rarely visible that way to me.

I could list for you all of the reasons that my life is full, and all of the reasons that my life sometimes does not feel so full. It would not matter though, as it would not be the truth. The truth is that my life is always full even if I do not always see it that way or feel that way.

To see the moon as it is, it helps to close my eyes.

My eyes can play tricks on me and they have limitations on what they can see. My eyes cannot see the moon in the middle of the day, even though it is there in the sky. My eyes also cannot see past the shadow of the earth that the sun places on the moon most nights.

It is earth’s own shadow that ironically gets in the way of the people on earth from being able to see the fullness of the moon.

It is my own shadow that ironically gets in the way of me being able to see the fullness of my life at times.

The appearance of any darkness in my life is often the result of a shadow casted from my mind. Fears, insecurities, attachments, desires and gripping thoughts are what create this shadow. This shadow makes it difficult for me to trust the beauty in my life.

There are countless examples of how I have placed my trust in what I know but cannot see. I deposit money into a bank account and trust that it is there, even though I cannot see it. My team is working from anywhere now, and even though I cannot see them in an office, I trust that they are working. I bite into a piece of fruit knowing that I will not get poisoned. There is so much that I know but cannot see.

Similarly, there are likely countless more opportunities for me to continue to place my trust in what I know but cannot always see. Most of all, that like the moon, my life is always full. Even if my own shadow makes it difficult for me to see it as such from time to time.