Last week I stayed on the Lakota reservation in Pine Ridge South Dakota—far from city lights. Every night we’d experience a light show better than anything Las Vegas or Hollywood could conjure up. Experiencing the awe and majesty of millions of stars shining down has the power to radically shift your consciousness. I came back to my home in Laguna Beach with a longing to learn more about the stars.

Here’s what I discovered:

• In her song Woodstock, when Joni Mitchell sang:  “We are stardust . . .” she was speaking a far deeper truth.
• Every element on earth, except for the very lightest, was created in the heart of a star.
• We, and all of life on this planet, are literally made of stardust.
• The calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood were all created in the fireball of a star.

That's a very profound realization to take in—We come from stardust!

Then there's the mind-blowing size of the universe and how far the stars are from us.

It takes four years for the light from the nearest star beyond our sun to reach us (and it’s traveling at the speed of light!). Some of the twinkling stars we see at night have already died by the time their light reaches us. What a beautiful metaphor for how our light will continue to shine even after we're gone from this dimensional plane.

The starlight we're made from is magnified with our conscious loving intentions, and that brighter light then continues on its eternal journey forward. We leave our individual 'legacy of light' in the hearts and minds of all we meet with loving thoughts and actions.

Here's a suggested meditation for expanding your consciousness and healing:

Look up to the stars of the heavens and hold these thoughts:

I am being bathed and blessed this night by these stars of heaven.

I know that every cell of my being comes from light and will return to the light.

I know that every cell of my body is remembering its true origin— starlight.

For as many days as I am blessed to be here on Mother Earth,
remind me to shine my light forward with kind words and deeds,
knowing that the journey of the light I give out is one that continues forever.

I am stardust.

I am light.

I am whole.

Thank You.