Full Moon Reflection
INSIGHT on Stability Through Presence
In an effort to make these INSIGHT Moon writings more valuable, I’ve started a practice of syncing the Full Moon Reflection to the content offered for the New Moon Intention. My hope is that it creates a rhythm for you to be in an ‘INSIGHT Practice’ of your own.
On the new moon eclipse, we recognized the obscurity of shadow and contemplated balance not coming by way of eliminating darkness, but rather by learning to hold polarities in equal regard. We spoke of pausing, recalibrating, and tending the seed rather than forcing the bloom.
What was hidden in the eclipse is revealed in the light of an illuminated full moon. The light of awareness doesn’t erase the shadow; it shows us its contours, its edges. Pausing to reflect enables us to see from new angles.
The unseen becomes visible.
INSIGHT Foundations
Recognition Over Reaction
Were there any moments over the past two weeks when you chose to soften instead of brace? Did you breathe before speaking? What shifted, if anything?
Why it Works: Recognition is nourishment for the nervous system. It tells our biology that the new pattern is safe to keep.
Closure as Balance
To honor completion is not to sever but to compost. What has run its course, while sometimes painful to release or hard to accept, repurposes as fuel. Just as the equinox teaches that what is alive in balance is constant recalibration, the full moon teaches that endings are fertile ground for equilibrium. It might take a minute, but pure potential is alive in the experience if we choose to see it. And grieving is essential, don’t get me wrong. To grieve is a gift.
Why it Works: When the mind perceives loss or disconnection, the amygdala fires a threat signal that cascades cortisol, narrowing perception and activating defensive reflexes (fight/flight/freeze/fawn). Reframing endings as transformation instead of termination calms that circuitry.
Listening as Coherence
True stability is not found in controlling outcomes but in offering our regulated attention. Listening and being fully present (to your body, to silence, to one another) affords thoughts, feelings, and sensations space and time to process.
Presence is contagious. And presence leads to coherence. And coherence leads to creativity.
Why it Works: Trying to control outcomes activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. The heart rate spikes, breathing shortens, and the prefrontal cortex (the seat of decision-making) goes offline.
Full Moon Practice (5 minutes)
Posture: Feet planted, spine tall but not stiff.
Breath: Inhale through the nose, diaphragm descends to soften the belly. Exhale gently, navel back toward spine. Ten slow rounds.
Inquiry:
What has been completed and can be made more valuable through thankfulness?
What is quietly alive and deserves recognition?
Where can I replace grasping with generous attention?
Ritual: Write one line of gratitude for what is done; one line naming what is alive. Offer the “done” line to flame, keep the “alive” line close to the body or on your altar.
The INSIGHT framework uses these perspectives and tools to create skillful responses vs. conditioned reactions. I hope this serves you well!
May this Full Moon reveal not only what you are tending, but what balance has already seeded within you. From eclipse to illumination, from shadow to information, may you see yourself more clearly.
With love,
Kevin