The Moon doesn't care about you.

Leaving for work at six thirty each morning is nice. The streets are still quiet, the sky is still dark, the sun subtly peaking over the eastern horizon and a scattered collection of stars bid their final adieus for the evening. The freeway I take happens to line up perfectly so that the rising sun lays directly behind me in the rear view mirror, but even better is the sight of the moon, bold and prominent fastened directly in my forward field of vision. As assumed, I go about my work day, make my usual stop at the gym, and am on the same freeway returning home, almost exactly twelve hours later. And again, just as in the morning, the moon lies steadfastly in my path, only this time from the east, beginning it's ascent into the night sky.

This predictable, constant and stunning pattern of planetary motion and orbit stirred a thought within me last week. That no matter what I did that day, what you did, or anyone accomplished or failed, that the moon and the sun too, would stay ever true to form. No matter what conflict was raged, what political decision cast, which birth or even death, could ever, will ever change the natural cycle of the world.

Life is a quilt of emotion. Our experiences stir reactions within us on a second by second basis. Emotion is healthy, enjoying our successes is healthy, grieving our losses is healthy yet what we often fail to think about is that during such elation or despair, that nothing in the world is stopping for us. We might want it to, we might feel it does, but the simple fact is that the world will keep on turning exactly as it did before, countless people will carry out their daily lives as they did before, and global events will go off without a hitch as planned, no matter which award you won, which game you lost, and how late you were to work.

So often we let certain actions or events immobilize us, good or bad. We have all been guilty of riding a success for too long, or taking a defeat too hard. The most successful individuals though, understand the need for momentum, for progress, for quick and effective resolutions and constant advancement.

A professional coach once talked about his belief in a "10 minute rule." This rule stated that his players were allowed 10 minutes to celebrate any victory, or 10 minutes to celebrate any loss before having to focus on the next test ahead.

As humans we are greedy, though not necessarily in a negative way. What I mean is this, everyone always acts on incentives, we set goals, we have wants and those with discipline and drive know what it entails to achieve these targets. But then what happens? Do we turn the car off, proclaim ourselves complete, recline our chairs and call it a life? Of course not. Instead, our minds immediately shift to the next prize, the next challenge and the cycle to success begins all over again. And again, it is those who can reboot the fastest, refocus the most efficiently who often end up in the pages of history and boasting the greatest and most numerous feats of greatness.

These aforementioned individuals understand, they know that no matter how great today was, tomorrow is going to come, and the day after that, and no one and no thing is going to prevent it.

Where we fall into trouble is with setting our standards of satisfaction too low. Stating a goal that is too easily attainable, abandoning our work and ethics upon achievement, losing the drive and motivation that made us successful in the first place. In sports, so often you will see a team come off a big win, even a great period, and get too "high" only before crashing back to earth the next match when they realize the team on the other side of the field could give a damn about their previous successes.

Now all of life isn't a game, it's not a athletic match, but it is a journey of which we only get to take one time. Perhaps some are satisfied with only a couple memories, but for some reason I believe the majority of us are not that way. We all will always want. Even upon achievement or realization, we will want more, it's how we are wired. The same goes for the negatives in life, sure we may not have wished these things to happen, but they did, and the world has no plans of stopping for you to recollect yourself. Adjust accordingly.

By all means savor your successes, there is nothing sweeter than setting out to accomplish a goal or feat close to your heart and mind. Mourn your losses, some of the deepest and most pure emotions come from hardship in our lives, these show us what it means to be human. But please, manage these peaks and valleys accordingly. The man who is controlled by his emotion is a man unable to control what comes next. By harnessing and employing the strength and essence of these feelings in life, and applying them to the next step, the next motive we are able to continuously progress, constantly learn and consistently enjoy the labors of this thing called life.

Can't we all just.......belong?

From birth we are programmed to not only depend upon, but also to enjoy the company of others. It is basic nature to desire the company of another soul to share the experiences of life with. It is why our families have the unbreakable bond, why we keep a good friend as if they are more dear than gold, and even why we we fuse lifelong bonds with our peers in education & athletics, despite only being an activity. As humans we love to share, we want an understanding ally to huddle next to, someone who truly can KNOW what we are going through. An equal to love, the yearning to belong, to be a part of something, with someone, is an emotion in life which we tirelessly pursue with infinite fervor in hopes of satisying, if only for the briefest moment.

This quiet phenomenon lives and breathes everywhere, in every aspect, of our lives. From the school boy who cries at not being invited to a birthday party, to a salesman who wreaks havoc on mind and health to maintain par with his peers, to even the most devout participant of sobriety who will have that one beer with new acquaintances as to not give off any misconstrued impressions. It is this insatiable desire to attach which dictates and guides our lives on a daily basis.

So why does this behavior exist? What does belonging to something provide that makes us so susceptible to sacrifice of reason and judgement? Understanding. We would do anything to be understood, to be viewed and valued as a cohort, and to have those in our lives who know what we are experiencing. Reversely we hope that we can equally employ empathy on them as well. Our mother's and father's knew us so well as children, our closest friends knew us in adolescence, and our love's know us in adulthood and old age. I see it as no mistake that our love for each of these groups grows strongest during these periods.

The sense of belonging is why Veterans can look one another in the eye and say everything with silence. Belonging is why we will push body and mind to challenge ourselves to raise our ability in almost every situation imaginable. A catch here might be also why belonging can make us work so hard, and commit so much to stay out of particular groups and associations, examples need not be mentioned.

If belonging spawns understanding, than appreciation must also be nominated as a factor. Having someone that you can relate to, can assess and act along with on equal grounds and emulate experiences is an asset we will bend to even the greatest lengths to keep. It is why we talk sports with teammates, why we feel unafraid to share ourselves completely with those we hold closest and even why we withhold emotions and thoughts from the majority of our satellite acquaintances.

This desire burns with the luminosity of the sun, yet maintains the footprint of a field mouse. It screams under the radar, never quite wanting to be unearthed. Yet all the while it is dictating and conducting our lives with the effect of a maestro. School reunions, sport alumni functions, networking groups, and awards ceremonies all provide the same service; They unite. And with this unification comes the presence of peers, those who have been through it themselves, who hold a bond with us which we know needs no acknowledgement.

As humans we engage in some debatable behaviors in attempts of achieving happiness and inner peace. Our species loves to dream, to forecast, assume and hope that certain accolades and successes will provide exact amounts of gratification. But here, again I theorize that the want to belong surfaces. For we are very good at identifying that which we do not have, those with whom we do not align, and are even more clinical in creating ideas that we must complete to make these things so. As a collegiate hockey player you always want the next level, as a stand up comedian you want that HBO special, and as a businessman you want that VP title. We desire these nominated successes for the company they bring as much as the personal gain they boast. In contrast we know if we fail, those who fail too will always take on a more welcomed and related standing with ourselves.

This always evolving emotion will forever slash trails of our existence. The sense of belonging will depict behavior on scales which we might never understand, and probably never appreciate. Our desire to not be alone, in anything, despite even the most objectionable claims of independence, is one not to ignore but rather embrace. Appreciate those who can attest, respect those who can relate, and thank those who try. Additionally to those whom we do not understand, we shall attempt, and if we encounter a scenario in which we can't, let us embrace the value of variety, if for nothing more than to make things interesting.

You get me?