THE OVERVIEW EFFECT

Because I like to read quotations and, when one strikes me, ponder it for a few minutes, I'm always on the lookout. Last week, I found this: "HAPPINESS IS WORTH THE EFFORT."  I know that quote, put together so succinctly, wouldn't have resonated with me at all two years ago.  Two years ago, I hadn't dived into the pool of Personal Development, nor realized the value of a Life Coach cheering me on from the sidelines.

Today, I can say with complete sincerity and comfort, "I'm creating my own life."  We're all creating our own lives, but not all of us are conscious of it.  Not all of us are working on it.  Even I, the recent convert, forget from time to time, and must backtrack to pick up the pieces I've dropped.  So--the idea that we create happiness, and happiness is worth the effort seems natural.  Actually, everything good that we accomplish is worth the effort but, sometimes, it's a tough slog to get there.

Edgar Mitchell is given credit for the "Happiness is worth the effort" quote.  I had no idea who Edgar Mitchell was, but I assumed he would be a writer or philosopher.  But, much to my surprise, Edgar Mitchell was an astronaut.  One of ours.  He was the pilot of the Lunar Module on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon.  He was the sixth American to walk on the moon and, by the end of the mission, had covered more territory and spent more time there than anyone else.

I thought about Edgar Mitchell and the monumental commitment necessary to become an astronaut, when I ran into an unexpected sentence:  It seems that on Mitchell's return home from the moon, at the point in which the spacecraft has a perfect view of this little ball we call home, he found himself "filled with an inner conviction that the beautiful blue world to which he was returning was part of a living system, harmonious and whole, and that we all participate in a universe of consciousness..." We are all connected--united, if you will, on this "tiny, fragile, ball of life hanging in the void."   The article went on:  "From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this 'pale blue dot' becomes both obvious and imperative."  Mitchell came back a changed man.

His experience was not unique. Other astronauts and cosmonauts have reported similar awakenings and the phenomenon has been given a name--The Overview Effect. Science-speak describes it this way:  "...a cognitive shift in awareness reported...during space flight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface."  Some report it as a spiritual experience, others use different terminology.

As I read that, I thought maybe we all need a little time in space to figure out what this Earth (and life on this Earth) really means. It's the only home we know, and we're all on it together riding through the darkness. Years ago, in my mind, Coca Cola had it right when they sang, "I'd like to teach the world to live in perfect harmony..." Especially this year, we might want to revive that thought...It would certainly be worth the effort.