Waxing Crescent: Stop Waiting and Take Action

On September 18th, the Moon reaches its waxing crescent phase.

Astronomically, there's no evidence that this lunar phase makes us more disciplined, brave, or productive.

But if we use lunar cycles as a framework for reflection, the waxing crescent can represent something very useful:

the moment when intention needs movement.

Because wanting to go in a direction is one thing.

Actually walking is something else entirely.

During the New Moon, you may have written something down.

I want to earn more.

I want to change jobs.

I want to start a project.

I want to feel better about myself.

I want to meet someone.

I want to leave a relationship behind.

I want to save money.

I want to move.

I want to finally do that thing I've been putting off for months.

And maybe you wrote it with absolute sincerity.

But there's a huge difference between wanting an outcome and building the conditions that can bring us closer to it.

Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, professor at New York University and author of Rethinking Positive Thinking, has spent decades researching precisely that distance.

Her studies on what she calls mental contrasting have found something uncomfortable for a certain popular version of manifestation:

imagining a desired future positively doesn't necessarily produce the effort needed to reach it.

In some studies, indulging only in positive fantasies about the future was associated with less effort afterward. Oettingen proposes something different: imagine what we want and then confront it with the real obstacle that exists between us and that future.

It doesn't mean stop dreaming.

It means asking the dream a question:

There's a phrase we repeat all the time:

"When I feel motivated, I'll start."

But think about how many important things in your life don't work that way.

You don't always feel like working.

You don't always feel like saving.

You don't always feel like studying.

You don't always feel like setting a boundary.

You don't always feel like exercising.

You don't always feel like having an uncomfortable conversation.

Waiting to feel perfectly prepared can become another form of waiting.

And maybe that's one of the most interesting messages we can extract symbolically from the waxing crescent:

you don't need to feel completely ready to start moving.

Sometimes action comes first.

And confidence appears later.

This really changes how we write an intention.

Suppose you wrote:

We normally stop there.

Maybe we visualize an amount.

We create an affirmation.

We imagine what it would feel like to have more peace of mind.

But Oettingen proposes something that seems much less spiritual and, precisely because of that, can be extraordinarily useful:

Look at the obstacle.

What's currently making that desire difficult?

Maybe you don't know how much you spend.

Maybe you earn too little.

Maybe you spend every raise before you get it.

Maybe you're avoiding looking at a debt.

Maybe you need another skill.

Maybe you know how to do something you could charge for, but you're afraid to offer it.

Maybe you've been saying you'll start a project for a year.

Then the intention changes.

It's no longer just:

Now it's:

That might be uncomfortable.

But it also returns something very important:

agency.

Suppose your desire was:

What's the obstacle?

Maybe you keep trying to convince someone who doesn't want the same thing.

Maybe you accept situations that contradict what you say you're looking for.

Maybe you don't meet new people.

Maybe you're afraid of being alone.

Maybe you're waiting for a person to change before allowing yourself to move on.

The obstacle isn't always outside.

And recognizing that doesn't mean blaming yourself for everything that happens to you.

It means asking:

what part of this situation can I actually move?

Here another important researcher appears.

Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer studied what he calls implementation intentions.

The idea is surprisingly simple.

It's not enough to say:

It's more useful to specify:

This is what's usually called an "if-then" plan.

For example:

Not:

But:

Not:

But:

Not:

But:

Gollwitzer developed these intentions precisely to address common problems like not starting, getting distracted, or returning to old habits. Subsequent research has found that specifying when, where, and how we'll act can facilitate translating a goal into behavior.

And here appears a form of manifestation that interests me much more:

one that knows exactly what it will do when the moment comes.

Sometimes we think the ritual ends when we blow out the candle.

Maybe not.

Maybe that was just the beginning.

You can write your intention.

You can meditate.

You can look at the Moon.

You can pull a card.

You can play music.

You can light incense.

You can create a space that reminds you something matters.

Rituals can serve as symbolic markers: a way to stop and pay attention to something that would normally get lost among all the things of the day.

But then comes another part.

The less aesthetic one.

The one that probably wouldn't appear in a pretty photograph.

Opening the spreadsheet.

Sending the email.

Saying no.

Making the call.

Canceling the subscription.

Updating the resume.

Studying.

Asking for help.

Going to the appointment.

Publishing what you're afraid to show.

Sometimes the real ritual begins when no one is watching.

I want to propose something to you.

Find the intention you wrote during the New Moon.

If you didn't write one, choose something you really want now.

You don't need twenty desires.

You need one.

And we're going to put it through four questions.

🌙 1. What do I want?

Write it simply.

🪨 2. What's really in the way?

Here don't write what sounds nice.

Write what you suspect is true.

This step resembles the mental contrasting studied by Oettingen: placing the desired future in front of the present obstacle instead of remaining only in fantasy.

🔥 3. What action can get through that obstacle?

Not:

Something small.

Something specific.

Something you can verify.

✨ 4. Turn it into an "if-then"

Now complete:

Example:

Or:

Or:

The intention no longer lives only in your head.

Now it has a moment when it can become behavior.

There's a temptation when we want to change our lives:

we want to feel like we're doing something huge.

But many huge things start in a terribly boring way.

A transfer.

A page.

An email.

A call.

A walk.

A "no."

A form.

Twenty minutes.

Maybe that's why we often prefer to imagine the final result.

The result is exciting.

The process is usually repetitive.

But between the person you want to be and the person you are now, there are hundreds of small actions that no one is going to celebrate.

And someone will have to do them.

You don't need to abandon what you believe in.

You can ask for guidance.

You can write down your desires.

You can believe in synchronicity.

You can use the Moon to remember your intentions.

You can have a ritual.

But maybe you don't have to choose between spirituality and action.

You can do both.

You can say:

And then open Google and start searching.

You can say:

And then submit your work.

You can ask for abundance.

And then look at your numbers.

You can ask for love.

And then stop going back to places where you're not chosen.

You can ask for a different life.

And then do something today that the previous version of you would have postponed.

If you used the New Moon to decide...

now use the waxing crescent to check if that decision started moving.

Don't ask:

"Have I arrived?"

Ask:

"Have I started?"

And if the answer is no, you don't need to punish yourself.

You just need to find the next move.

Because maybe the problem was never that your desire wasn't strong enough.

Maybe it just needed:

a recognized obstacle,

a concrete action,

and a defined moment to do it.

The Moon can serve as your reminder.

But the next step...

belongs to you.

🌒✨

I don't need to know your whole story.

Just complete one sentence:

"Before the next Full Moon, I will ______."

Make it specific.

Not:

But:

Because putting an action into words can be a way to stop negotiating with it forever.

My intention with these texts isn't to tell you what to believe.

It's to create a space where we can preserve some of the mystery of the Moon and our spiritual practices, but also ask questions that return our capacity to act.

If this exercise helped you turn something you wanted into something you can do, you can voluntarily support my work with a tip.

That support allows me to keep researching books, studies, traditions, and ways to turn all of that into content that doesn't just stay in pretty words.

And if you can't or don't want to today, that's okay.

Reading, commenting, and sharing also helps this space continue growing.

If you decide to leave a tip, thank you.

Not for paying for a magical answer.

But for helping me continue creating a place where we can remember something important:

manifestation can begin with a desire, but a life changes with what we do after.