Anders Cahill
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

If you are one of the privileged multitude who stood in the shadow of the moon on August twenty-first, I envy you. I was on a plane from Houston to Durham, and sadly, my flight path didn’t offer this particular vantage:

I’ve got good news though. There’s a solid chance that if you’re reading this, you’ll still be alive the next time the moon cuts a path across America, leaving darkness and wonder in its wake. 2024 can’t come soon enough.

In the meantime, all the hubbub about the eclipse got me to thinking: a total solar eclipse is mainly a matter of perspective. I mean, if you’re in the wrong place, you live your day just like any other day, absentmindedly scratching your nose while you fret over the latest politcal scandal, maybe wondering whether that email you sent was too wordy, maybe killing time reading motivational blog posts (look, that’s my life, alright?).

But if you’re in the right place, you look up at the afternoon sky and see a glowing corona shimmering around the edges of a perfect black sphere, tendrils of light stretching out against the void of space. The stars come out, and you can see the whole solar system, planets laid bare in their orbits for a few brief, glorious minutes. And maybe that’s when you realize that we’re on a tiny orb of water and rock, spinning through the vastness, and all the civilizations of humankind have been a mere moment against the deep time of existence.

So here’s something to ponder: are you going to wait decades for the next life-changing cosmic event to come along?

Or are you going to go out and find the right place to stand?

This amazing composite image captures the moon during a total solar eclipse. Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller from the Brno University of Technology.

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Incredible photo by Kirstina Makeeva

Want to go further down the rabbit hole? Download my novel Gradient for free. Readers describe it as “gripping,” “epic,” and “wildly creative.”

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Anders Cahill

Written by

Creativity. Mindfulness. Leadership. // mindfulcreative.coach // anderscahillbooks.com // anderscahill.bandcamp.com

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