X

Present Shock | Matching The Rhythms Of The Moon

Chronos versus Kairos time and the power of the moon.

The video above will make you an instant fan of the media-mindful-yoda that is Douglas Rushkoff. The revelation (at least to me) that the rhythms and phases of the moon directly correspond with the neurotransmitters in the brain stopped me in my tracks:

power of the moon remix

1st week of the new moon—Acetylcholine:
associated with new ideas, making friends, and being open minded;
2nd week of the new moon—Serotonin:
all about getting things done, being industrious and reaching conclusions;
3rd week of the moon cycle—Dopamine:
it makes you want to relax and enjoy being with people (not about work or getting things done);
Last week of the cycle—Norepinephrine:
makes you very analytical, organising things and moving above the situation to figure out the structures which underline things.

Ergo:

  • what if schools / universities were structured to reflect the above phases?
  • How could strategy and ideation departments in organisations / companies utlise this in their R&D production cycles?
  • Where can this be applied when you’re timetabling a professional development / capability building piece for a client internally?

Does anyone know if this has been done anywhere?

Published

16 comments

  1. WOW – that really is mind blowing!

    I always knew I was wired to the moon but now I know the science of why! I can see some links to the design thinking model:

    dopamine – empathy
    norepinephrine – define
    acetylcholine – ideate
    serotonin – prototype/test

    I had an ‘interesting’ discussion a couple of weeks ago re multiple intelligences and learning styles and how the research proves it isn’t real – wonder what they’d make of this!

    Thanks for sharing, I’m going to share with the team on Friday morning as a ‘soul session’ to get us into the thinking curriculum design day we have planned – fabulous timing.

    1. Thanks for the comment Jane – LOVED the correlation to the design thinking model – would love to hear the outcome of the ‘soul session’

  2. Happy to share more about this topic when next we meet. If its the 2nd week of the new moon that will be a time of productive and useful sharing of ideas.

  3. love your clean and clear infographic….isn’t the full moon in the middle of the month between weeks 2 and 3?

  4. I have been paying attention to and practicing aligning my life with these phases for almost a year now. I have found that it really makes a difference when I move with the flow of the moon rather than against it. For example, I try to plan my mindless type errands, business housekeeping and networking events during the week of the full moon. That way Im not wasting energy trying to get things done at that time. on the other hand, I rarely schedule meetings or “outside” events during the new moon – that is my inner-looking time. Finding the difference between the other two phases is a little harder but my point is that paying attention to these has helped my personal productivity and engagement with life. THANK YOU for this oh so helpful information!

    1. Many thanks for taking the time to comment Tina and intrigued that you’re actually leveraging the ‘moon times’ to good effect. Keep keeping on :-)

  5. This is great- just one question. What about when the moon is waxing? It looks like this only shows what happens when the moon is waning. Thanks so much!

  6. Assuming you are in the northern hemisphere, the four week long periods are as follows:
    Crescent (backward c shape), gibbous (more than half full with shadow on left), gibbous (shadow on right), crescent (c shape in normal orientation)
    You see, the “new moon” is when the moon is blacked out. And the full moon is basically right in between week 2 and week 3.
    for people viewing the moon from the Southern Hemisphere, the right-left of the shadows would be opposite.
    You are the top result for the google search I did, so you might be confusing a lot of people!

      1. I looked at the address you gave. I like the new chart with the Northern and Southern Hemisphere comparison. Does the neurotransmitters during weeks 1 – 4 originally given still apply whether one is in either hemisphere?

  7. I’ve found it extremely interesting. I’m a proud ‘new-ager’ and I’m keen to try these kinds of approaches. Thank you so much. That said, is there the slightest scientific proof of the ‘neurotransmitters’ thing? It seems for many people is enough just to cite any chemical word to make it ‘scientific’. If not, it would be more honest to present it as a happy idea, maybe worth a try, but not a fact.

    1. Don’t know – just asking some questions based on the previous video – feel free to come back and share any more research you’ve found :-)

Comments are closed.