Harvest Moon, September 18

The Harvest Moon is the last moon of the Summer season. Now is the time of harvesting the abundance, made possible because of perseverance and focus. It’s time to harvest your year’s efforts.

All spring and summer, gardens have grown strong with the plentiful water and rays of the sun. Now is the time of harvesting the abundance. In a scant six or so months, it’s amazing to realize how fast and how much growth can occur from a small seed to fragile plant to full grown, full producing plant. This progress is possible because of perseverance and focus combined with the proper placement.

We too could achieve abundance by demonstrating a similar focus and perseverance. If you read any autobiographies or biographies of famous and wealthy people, you find a common thread of focus and perseverance. While everyone finds themselves in difficult situations, their ability to focus on what was important and to persevere despite any obstacle allowed them to move ahead. This focus is similar to what can be seen demonstrated by the rescue workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Their dedication, focus, and perseverance despite the overwhelming number of people needing assistance are a model of what can be accomplished.

However, for many of us, we are distracted too easily, procrastinate, do not have the skills to focus, tire of our course of action, or change course too often to ever make real progress. Hence we become discouraged and don’t achieve our goals. Nevertheless, we still want the abundance that is the reward of focused effort or steadfastness. A paradox indeed.

But let’s take another lesson from nature. Plants do not focus every moment of every day. Each day is its own mini-cycle. A plant draws energy up from the earth during the morning hours, focuses its energy on the plant during the afternoon hours when the sun is at its peak, and then withdraws its energies back down during the evening hours. Likewise, our own steadfastness can be cyclical allowing for times of rest, rejuvenation, and other activities.

So harvest this year’s efforts during this Harvest Moon time. Acknowledge what you’ve accomplished, reap the benefits, and get ready for next full moon’s time of reflection.

Yet, in this time of harvesting our summer’s abundance, it’s hard to fathom that many survivors of Hurricane Katrina have lost their homes and all their belongings. Many have also lost family and other loved ones. The juxtaposition couldn’t be more evident. Consider donating some of your own abundance (money) or time to the relief efforts.

Next Month: Ducks Fly Moon: the first moon of the fall season at autumn equinox. The Lunar eclipse and Full Moon is Oct 17^th.