Do you know where you are?

Earthling friends,

I think about outer space a lot.

Do you?

I mean, partly it's because I love astrology.

But more than that

I try to remember again and again

(because in the go go go of life it's easy to forget)

that this whole Life thing is miraculous.

Yesterday, I came across a piece

by Eve Conant, Manuel Canales, and Matthew Chwastyk,

detailing 13 Things that Make Life On Earth Possible.

I can't stop thinking about them,

and I wanted to share some with you.

One: we're at just the right distance

from our Sun.

Two: our Sun is a stable, long-lasting star.

(More massive stars burn out too quickly

for life to develop,

and less massive stars are too volatile

and blast their planets with erratic radiation).

Three: our planet has built-in protection

from the solar radiation that we do get:

an ozone layer

(thanks to all our oxygen)

and a strong magnetic field

(thanks to the radioactive composition

of our planet's churning core).

Four: our nice big moon

stabilizes Earth's axial wobble.

Without it, our planet would teeter on its axis

tipping toward and then away from the Sun,

and our climate would shift drastically hotter

and then drastically icier.

Finally

Five: in the Milky Way,

we are nestled in just the right spot.

Our solar system is in a spacious section of the galaxy,

free from too much stellar chaos.

Our enormous outer planets 

thin out the asteroid belt,

and our Sun's radiation

repels dangerous interstellar particles.

*
Now

Here's where my mind goes next.

Where are you right now?

You are in a perfect spot.

So many variables

conspire to support you.

You are on planet Earth,

and in the grand scheme of things?

You're not here for long.

Why not take the chance

you've been considering?

Why not follow your heart?

Why not invest the money?

Why not put yourself out there?

Why not bet on yourself?

I mean: 

sure, some things will not go the way you planned.

But at the same time

I bet when you pause and think about life

you'll realize that so much

SO MUCH

is exactly, impossibly, miraculously

just right.