Pull out that pipe cleaner, Styrofoam ball science project of the planetary system that I know is still in your attic. Unlike algebra, you may actually get to use some of that knowledge today. For the first time in over 1000 years, 4 planets are aligned and visible in the predawn sky. The last event was in the 900’s AD and won’t occur again for another 1000 years. The celestial party finds Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn joining for a light show just to the left of the moon in the Eastern sky. Even if you don’t believe in mystical association there is a suggestion that this can cause a huge shift in energy. Some say war and evil will shift to quiet, peace and harmony, love, acceptance and cooperation. Yes please!
Peering at the night sky phenomenon lifts your face to the heavens and is sure to bring a smile. Isn’t it wonderful how the simplest life -affirming events are readily available to lighten your heart?
I tend to like linear. One foot in front of another, control, steady is more comforting than chaos any day and so I feel drawn to the spectacle of alignment. Most of us also believed that our own life would proceed in a linear path. When a challenge presents, we can be thrown sideways and getting back on some track may not seem possible. Perhaps the point is to not reach for that assurance and stability but to embrace the change. “What, Doc? Even cancer? No way! I am going to push back not accept this new trajectory”. Sure that will be your first impression, but as patients have demonstrated over and over again, life isn’t about the straight, safe and secure. They put their lives on the front line. They accept the scans, biopsies, procedures, foreign chemo into veins, beams of radiation on the hard, uncomfortable table. Often they are hoping these actions will bring their lives back into alignment. “Doc, I can’t wait to get back to my life”, I hear often. But this is their life now and a new path will be forged.
Every single time you grew was when you were challenged. Change your view of the situation. Yes, a diagnosis, injury or life event feels like entropy, but explore having faith in a new direction. You are meant to live this life in front of you, not one you imagined. Each step into the unknown is just waiting for you to embrace and even enjoy.
What fascination this new “alignment” can bring. Trust that it is in your wheelhouse to manage and even thrive. So many patients will claim how their lives improved after going through the drama. Are they stronger, healthier, and less cautious? Not always, but often they are determined, brave, and tend to develop more purpose and focus. They may change other less- inspired aspects of their life to really gain control and so ultimately …. become calmer and happier!
When you peer at the planets as I did today, you may notice one is just very slightly off kilter on the line. I tap my free “sky view” app (try it) to see which one is the errant, mischief- making celestial mass. Beautiful sparkling Saturn, closest to the moon is moving off path. It’s light adds to the beauty but in it’s own unique way assuring that the powerful exhibit is no less captivating in the magic of the early morning.
This once -in- a -thousand year phenomenon is happening in our lifetime, in your backyard and arrived unexpectedly just as other wonder- filled moments in life do : the serendipity of meeting your spouse, the son hitting the winning run, the daughter who is gifted with a scholarship, the birth of a grandchild, the promotion, even the disease- free scan. So many ways we are reminded that the linear life isn’t as desirable as one with surprise gifts and even challenges.
Resiliency is required to embrace all aspects of this amazing world and accept that your own life path will push and pull you out of expected alignment. While the four planets will not align again for over a thousand years, that doesn’t mean they are spinning out of control. They are moving just as the universe planned, onto their own trajectory.
On this Orthodox Easter day, we can hope that this celestial event could bring peace a world away. But perhaps where that occurs is in our own heart, where we experience harmony of acceptance and even excitement for our own next adventure. Trust that there will be challenge, but also wonder as your own path unfolds. Oh and by the way, before you pack that science project away, just remember to pop tiny Pluto off of the solar system model….reminding us that the one certainty in life is change.