What the Moon Can Teach Us About Appreciation
By Brook Dorff
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re currently on a planet floating in space. Yes, this beautiful brilliant home we call Earth and Earth Day is the one day a year we rededicate ourselves to taking care of her. Earth Day is the day we plant all the trees, turn off our lights, conserve our water a little more carefully, and decide we will take care of our home with more diligence. After all, our planet takes such good care of us.
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see Hubble 3D. It was a gorgeous film exploring all the things we’ve gleaned from this wonderful telescope. The galaxies we’ve discovered, nebulas and formation of new stars, the new perspectives, and the things we’ve learned about other planets in our solar system.
At the very end of the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio, who narrates the film, says,
“It has been said that in discovering the moon, we discovered our earth.”
He went on to talk about how we’re always searching for other bigger and better things as humans. We have the desire to study things we have not yet explored, discover something that we’ve never seen before. Yet, after all of this searching, discovering, and knowledge that we’ve gained through the Hubble, we have yet to discover a place that loves us and protects us as perfectly as our beautiful Earth does. The beautiful balance of the ozone layer, the elements, the way our climate finds balance despite the things we do to destroy it.
This led me to think about my own life. I have the tendency to be lured in by wanderlust, exploring, adventuring, and finding the best Pho restaurant in California, among other things. Maybe I’m on the constant search for something unexplored–a better job, better house, better relationships, even a better climate to live in. But maybe in reality, it’s all right under my nose?
Maybe I just need to appreciate the things I have in the moment that I have them. Maybe I need to learn to savor the moment, trust the wait, and enjoy the beauty of becoming. I need to recognize my perfect path and perfect circumstances that have all collided into creating who I am becoming. As beautiful and enticing as adventuring and exploring is, sometimes I forget where I am right now is the best place for me. I have to recognize that I am enough in this present moment.
Maybe, much like our beautiful planet, there are things in motion that I often am unaware of–cyclical patterns of weather, the beautiful plants creating oxygen–that are working on creating of the beautiful life I live.
Yes, it is important to take the time to rededicate ourselves to becoming a little more aware of the beautiful things we’ve been given. And maybe we can say in discovering the earth, we’ve discovered ourselves.
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Brook Dorff
Director of Operations and Development at Project Happiness
She believes the best education comes from traveling, a good conversation, and doing things that make you uncomfortable. She is a firm daydream believer and is passionate about paying it forward through random acts of kindness.