Starry, Starry Night

Do you ever go outside at night to look up at the stars?

I try to go out around 10 or 11 pm when the traffic buzzing by my suburban home dies down. Feels more like a private experience that way. Some nights it’s too cloudy to see the stars but on other clear nights they seem to be blinking celestial messages at me: “Come see us more often. We’re here to inspire you.”  

I wonder if the diamonds scattered above sent Van Gogh the idea for The Starry Night?

What’s cool about stargazing is that you can do it for free. Do you remember that scene in The Glass Castle when Jeannette’s dad takes her and her siblings into the Arizona desert and lets them each pick out a star for Christmas? What a great gift! We’ve been conditioned to think gifts have to cost money, but many of the best ones are free.

Have you ever received a gift you loved that didn’t cost anything?

Yes, some groups are selling stars to raise money, but any of us can go out any night we please and wish upon a star because it “makes no difference who you are.” I truly believe that if I wish for things they really can come true. It’s the times when I stopped wishing for things that my life felt pointless, predictable and plain.

Just being outside at night is a gift. Tipping my head back at the nighttime universe spread out before me, I forget about everything on my “to do” list.  None of them  seem important when I’m outside communing with the star people. I’m trying to get away from “to do’s” and start each day with a “to be.” (Besides, I find myself cheating at the end of the day anyway by adding things onto the list that were not originally there. I do that to feel productive. Maybe, though, there are better ways to be productive than checking things off a list?)

Today, I want to be “whimsical.” What would you like to be today?

Muse thx

Giulietta