Seeing the bigger picture & appreciating the small things.
Today’s new moon begins the penultimate lunar cycle of the year. I don’t know how it feels for you, but for me this year has been whizzing by—these final months of 2025 seem to be moving especially quickly. As with every new moon, there’s an invitation to pause, reflect, and return to your inner compass. In truth, I think we do this many times a day when we remember to, and the lunar cycle is simply one more tool that nudges us back toward that remembering.
When we pause and get quiet, we don’t always love what we find. We sometimes meet feelings, emotions, or thoughts we’ve been avoiding. I often wonder if this is why so many people shy away from slowing down—not because they truly lack the time, but because it feels easier to scroll, to watch something, to keep moving, to go out and “do something”. Yet if we can’t meet ourselves, can we really meet anyone else fully? Can we truly be in relationship?
A time-tested way of meeting what’s difficult is to zoom out: to take a wider perspective and see the bigger picture. The Sanskrit and Pali word “Upekha”, most often translated as equanimity literally points to a “bird’s-eye view.” This isn’t the same as ignoring or avoiding, and it’s definitely not about dissociating. Instead, it’s an invitation to stay deeply connected to the sensations and feelings in your body as you widen your perspective—to feel the frequency of all that you are, even as you hold a broader view. When we zoom out in this embodied way, we create freshness. It gives us more capacity, clarity, and energy to face whatever is present—to see it anew, perhaps with insight or a creative sense of how to move forward. This shift in perspective can come through a friend, a teacher, a piece of wisdom—anything that helps lift us out of our blind spots.
Another aspect of practice I am called to highlight today is the importance of the small choices you make every day: the little pauses, the moments of noticing, the subtle shifts in state. I speak with many people each week who say they’ve “fallen behind” with their practice because they didn’t make it onto the mat or carve out a dedicated block of time. And yet, as they describe their days, I hear countless moments of genuine practice: choosing to breathe differently, sitting with better posture, pausing before responding to someone. All these small actions matter. They accumulate. They shape the course of a life—much like a tiny adjustment on a sailboat may seem insignificant at first, yet over time sends you in a completely different direction.
It can be powerful to reflect on the ways you already shift your state when you notice yourself getting stuck, wound up, or tense. Not to deny those feelings, but to listen to what they’re telling you. So often our reactions come from habit, tiredness, stress, or frustration. A small, conscious choice—a few deep breaths, reading something inspiring, listening to something beautiful, stepping outside to look at the sky, lying down on the ground, making a warm drink—can change the whole tone of a moment.