Greeted by the Full Moon

When I opened my eyes this morning at 5:30 AM. the first thing I noticed was that a full moon was up in the sky outside one of the windows on the west side of my bedroom. Everything was still dark. But there was the moon as if it were wishing me a good Wednesday morning.

I know the moon has been full since yesterday March 14th, but I didn't get to see it then because yesterday was very cloudy and many dense clouds hid it from me.

Now I just lingered in bed for a few minutes wondering why everyone says that when the moon is full people feel depressed or their behavior has negative changes. Personally, I'm not sure about that. It was one of my nieces who mentioned it to me some time ago. And I remember that after she mentioned it, my sister-in-law told me once that she had been feeling stressed and depressed those days and I noticed that we had a full moon when she told me how she felt. I then told her what my niece had said about the effects of the full moon on human behavior. We discussed her feelings briefly and then dismissed the subject turning to other more interesting matters. I guess this is one of the ways these theories get passed on from one person to another. The same as gossip, LOL.

But I finally decided to get out of bed, put on a robe and picked up my camera from the top of my computer where I keep it. Then I hurried outside and took this picture of the moon.

Since I heard this piece of information about the full moon, I've made it my business to get informed on the subject of the effects of the moon. The full moon has been linked to crime, suicide, mental illness, disasters, accidents, birthrates, fertility, and even werewolves, among other things. Numerous studies have tried to find lunar effects. So far the studies have failed to establish anything of much value or interest. Lunar effects that have been found have little or nothing to do with human behavior. Up to the present it has been concluded that all the studies have failed to show a reliable and significant correlation between the full moon, or any other phase of the moon and the aspects I mentioned above.

I figure that if so many studies have failed to prove a significant correlation between the full moon and anything, why do so many people believe in these lunar myths. There's a possibility that the reason could be media effects, folklore, and tradition.

We see a lot of films and works of fiction where lunar myths are frequently presented. The repetition is constant, forcing an association between the full moon and human behavior. For this reason it is not surprising that such beliefs are widespread in the general public. Many lunar myths are rooted to folklore. So many things are explained by legends
and these legends are passed on from parents to children and from generation to generation.

Misconceptions about such things as the moon's effect on tides have contributed to lunar mythology. Many people seem to think that since the moon affects the ocean's tides, it must be so powerful that it has to affect human behavior as well. The fact that the human body is mostly water greatly contributes to the notion that the moon should have a powerful effect on the human body and therefore an effect on behavior. Eighty percent of the earth is unbounded water. Some people seem to think that 80% of the human body is also water. That is not true. I mean it's not as high as 80%. Besides, the water in our body is bounded and for this reason the full moon doesn't affect our body's water as it affects the earth's water which has no boundaries.

Now every time I notice there's a full moon, I start analyzing how I'm feeling on that day and the days before and after the full moon. I have come to the conclusion that I feel exactly the same as I feel at any other time during the different phases of the moon. I feel fine.