Total Eclipse (of the heart)

You have probably heard that there is a solar eclipse coming on Monday. Here in Anchorage, we’re only going to have about half the sun blocked. I haven’t noticed much eclipse excitement here, but for my friends who live outside, especially in the path of totality, there’s been a lot of excitement. (Unity Village will experience 99% coverage.)

Eclipses are not a rare occurrence, the fuss is mostly because this one will be visible by so many people. You would think as the first recorded observation of an eclipse was over 5000 years ago, scientists would know what they wanted to know by now. Even though the math of determining when and where is old news, there is still plenty to learn.

When the moon covers the sun (from our perspective) the corona, or edges, is visible. Usually the sun is so bright these things can’t be seen.

This got me thinking about the things we can’t see. Often when we’re in the midst of a situation it’s like being in the middle of the sun, we can’t see the edges to know if there’s other information that would be helpful to us.

Most of us have a lot going on in our lives, there are plenty of ways to stay in the busyness and having constant input from music, news, tv. There is nothing wrong with having a handle on the news of the day or enjoying some entertainment. However, like the sun, they can blot out the more subtle learnings with their brightness, I’ll listen to one more song, read one more article, watch one more episode. Or maybe the concerns of the world and your life keep you distracted with worry and “what if’s.”

An eclipse is an opportunity to remember that there is learning in the stillness. When we take time to turn off the input devices, set aside our concerns, and just be, deeper understandings and truth can emerge, just like the corona coming into focus.

Sometimes when we’re looking for a solution to a problem, we may discover that the answers we seek emerge quite easily when we give them the opportunity. There is another side though, sometimes the reason we keep all the input happening is so that we can blot out truths we don’t want to see. Maybe we don’t want to recognize that a relationship is unhealthy, or that our behavior isn’t in alignment with our values, or that doing the same thing really will have the same results no matter how hard we wish it to be otherwise.

These are not comfortable discoveries to make for sure, but ignoring them isn’t going to make them go away, they simply exist behind the noise. But what if we, like the scientists, took the information from these glimpses into our hidden selves and did something with it? What if we confronted the uncomfortable truths and moved toward changing, healing, and growing? The good news is that we don’t have to wait a couple years for the next eclipse. The opportunity to see ourselves more clearly is always available and takes no special equipment, though practice is helpful.

No matter where you find yourself, remember to look at the edge of the sun with proper eye protection, and to look your own edges with a brave heart.