Total eclipse of the heart
On Monday afternoon at about 3 p.m. ET, I found myself sitting on a picnic blanket on the back field of my son's elementary school. Parents milled about, craning their necks at the sky while holding solar eclipse viewing glasses in place. We were about to get to a 90% eclipse and our glasses revealed that the sun already looked, well, like a crescent moon. The air was electric and brimming with anticipation.
I laid back on the blanket, put the eclipse glasses on, interlaced my hands behind my head, and gazed up at the sky. A few moments later, my son and his buddies raced over to the blanket, laughing and asking if "it" was happening yet. Hearing a "Yes!" from the parents, they pushed their glasses on and laid down with me. They screeched in delight and wonder. I smiled, burning the memory into my brain and telling my son to do the same -- after all, we have a 20-year wait until the next one here!
As I lay there, I couldn't help but think how normal the afternoon otherwise seemed. Because we weren't on the "path to totality," the sky didn't get dark and the animals and insects didn't act differently. It seemed like a typical, overcast day. But celestial magic was happening behind the scenes, thanks to a coincidental alignment of the sun, moon, and earth for a brief period of time.
Nonetheless, we felt awe, joy, and excitement. We donned our special glasses and sought out the wonder that we knew was there, hiding from plain sight. So I ask, what magic are we missing every day that isn't immediately obvious? What can we notice if we look at things a bit differently? The good news is that we don't need special glasses to protect our eyes, although some rose-colored glasses may help! We can find wonder in the everyday moments, from laughing with a friend, smiling at a stranger, or hearing the birds sing again as spring has sprung.
And you know what else I noticed? We all let go. We were present in the moment, not worried about capturing every second in a photo or video but rather viewing it with our eyes only. We relaxed. We rescheduled calls and meetings. Some of us drove somewhere else to watch it. Why should it take such a rare, special event for these things to occur? Letting go, being present, relaxing, and being secure do not require a cosmic wonder. They seem like the recipe to actually noticing all the hidden, everyday magic!
So those are the lessons I'll keep with me until the next eclipse. So cue the music: "There's nothing I can do, a total eclipse of the heart!"
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