Holy crap I love me some space!
You remember in elementary school how you would go through certain subjects at certain times of the year?
Oh man, when the space time of the year rolled around I think it might have been the one time all year where I actually paid attention!
And for those who are wondering…. JUPITER is of course, my favorite planet!
Prove me wrong! I dare you 😉
Paying tribute
As my love for space grew over the years, so too did the way in which I learned about space.
You better believe I’ve seen about every document on Netflix with “space” in the title.
“How the Universe Works”, “The Cosmos” with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “The Universe” series….
Please! I’ve seen em’ all. 🙂
The Universe has so many secrets and there are so many great ways to learn about them but perhaps my favorite story teller of them all, is Mr. Stephan Hawking
Three years ago I read “A Brief History of Time” and absolutely fell in love with the way Mr. Hawking’s mind works and his ability to make complex theories accessible to someone like myself.
So then, last year when I committed to reading 40 books I of course had to pick up another one of Mr. Hawking’s Best -Seller’s, “The Theory of Everything.”
Although this book is old in some ways and is considered a classic, many of the ideas in the book were new to me so it blew my freaking mind!
If you’re a space geek like me, do yourself a favor and read some of Mr. Hawking’s work!
Although he’s no longer with us, his work is still fundamental in a lot of the research that is being done today so his legacy lives on by that research and by space nuts like me who love his books!
What I learned about space
Stephen Hawking was most famous for his work and research on black holes. Particularly, he spent most of his life trying to merge the theory of relativity with the theories of quantum mechanics.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the world of physics, if these two theories could be successfully merged, we’ll have effectively discovered the blueprint to the universe.
With it, we would completely understand what governs all of the biggest things in the universe—from stars to spinning galaxies—along with all of the smallest things in the 
universe—like quarks and quantum particles.
One of my favorite parts about “The Theory of Everything” is Mr. Hawking’s discussion on time travel.
According to some of his research, it’s actually possible to travel forward in time!
Don’t believe me?
Check it:
Based on the math and the theory, if you were to get close enough to a black hole its gravitational force would be so strong, it would actually be able to slow down time.
So then, as the story goes, if you were to leave your twin brother on planet earth for 5 years while you casually orbited around a massive black whole, when you returned, you brother would be an old man and you would still be young!
Insert “mind blown” sound effect here…
I don’t know about you, but I could learn about this kind of stuff all day!
I know, I know, you’re thinking I’m a nerd (I can’t argue with you on that one) and you might even be wondering why I’m talking about space on a blog about mindfulness.
Space, emptiness and connectivity
The reason I still love space so much is because it reminds me that I’m bigger than this body and this life.
Space reminds me that everything is connected—everything from people to thoughts—and when I learn about space I feel as though I’m learning about myself is some ways.
I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase: “From ashes to ashes”, but in reality, we have more in common with the stars and planets then we do with ashes.
When I look at space and I see all of the dynamic and various ways matter has chosen to express itself, I’m humbled by the fact that we are all connected and come from the same source of energy.
We all exist in the eternal now.
We are but miniscule specks on a small planet, in a small galaxy in a vast, vast universe.
But there is no denying that even based on a quantum level, what makes you is the same thing that makes me.
We are the universe experiencing itself through this particular form—the human body.
Think about this:
I cannot exist without you, and you cannot exist without me.
If you’re out there floating in empty space and there’s no one around to perceive you, then how do you know you’re real?
You see, we need each other to fully exist in this universe and to me that’s effing beautiful!!!
I think this is one of my favorite things about space.
Not only are planets, comets, and exploding stars just awesome, but space reminds me that I’m smaller than I think and at the same time, bigger than I could have ever imagined!
The vastness and the nothingness IS what I am.
Whatever the real meaning of life might be, space reminds me that I’m truly blessed to be here and share this reality with my fellow humans and with everything else that resigns within the universe.
Conclusions:
I’ll leave you with this,
There was a study once done by a group of mathematicians who took it upon themselves to calculate the odds of you existing in this time, at this moment and precisely as you are. Guess what the odds were…
1 in 400,000,000,000!!!
That means, the probability of you being alive and conscious in this moment is one in every four-hundred-trillion!
Translation: You ABSOLUTELY matter, and your existence is an absolute MIRACLE!
So, make your life count and next time you look up into the stars and you feel small, remember some of the work Mr. Hawking did over his lifetime. You are small yes, but you are bigger than you’ll ever know or could possibly comprehend. We are all connected, and we are all one…
Thank you as always for reading. I appreciate you bearing through an article about space with me. I guess I couldn’t resist the chance to write about one of my favorite topics. We hope you have a wonderful week, and please let us know if there are other ways or techniques that you use to help you gain perspective, cultivate gratitude, and increase mindfulness.
Until next time,
Many many blessings!
