Lessons from… the Stars

I first saw The Lion King back in the 90’s and I have loved this conversation ever since – the ‘clever’ meercat Timon and the ‘stupid’ warthog Pumbaa beautifully juxtaposed.

Pumbaa: Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?

Timon: Pumbaa, I don’t wonder; I know.

Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?

Timon: They’re fireflies. Fireflies that, uh… got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.

Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.

Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything’s gas.

The Lion King, (Walt Disney, 1994). Watch the exchange here.

I know that I am not alone in marveling at the stars at some stage or another. Those burning balls of gas billions of miles away.

I took a moment recently to have a bit of a star gaze on a clear night. I don’t do this often, certainly not as often as I could. But when the moment seizes me, I like to sit out and just look, contemplate, and consider, even if just for a few minutes.

And as I sat outside looking up, my day-to-day troubles really did seem to grow smaller. Face to face with the immenseness, age and unfathomable distances of what was right before my eyes, I felt distinctly like a very tiny, very short-lived speck.

I guess this could lead to a nihilistic outlook; what is the point and what difference can I make? However, this was not the case.

My lesson from the stars was one of comfort. I felt comfortable as a tiny speck in the universe. It took a little bit of the pressure off. I loosened up a bit. In my tininess I felt that spark of life that we all have. Spinning along in this vast emptiness, I felt, oddly, alive.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to Jo Burnard this week. With a long and successful selling and management career behind her, Jo is busily working away setting up this new chapter, trading under her own name and adding her skillset to our strong presence in the North Auckland area, specifically Orewa and the Hibiscus Coast. I wish you all the very best and look forward to seeing your plans come to fruition.

Back to those Stars

I heard about ‘star bathing’ on a podcast at some stage, and it turns out that this is a known mindfulness practice and also a sleep-promoting practice. The podcaster said something along the lines of ‘20 minutes of star bathing will have the results of an hour of therapy, and its free!’, the implication being that you get plenty of benefit for very little investment.

If you want to read more on star bathing, I found this article if you would like to learn a bit more. Give it a go.

Lastly, a shooting star….

Don’t you just love a shooting star? I saw a great one the other night. It burned across the night sky in a beautiful arc, giving a moment of hope. I know it is only a piece of space rock burning up in our atmosphere, but I will grab some encouragement – ‘You are on the right track’, it seems to say.