Overcoming Challenges: The Dance of Balance. I am freshly back from a wonderful family gathering in Holland, followed a week long mother-daughter bike trip from Amsterdam to Bruges, and am so grateful that all of us are journeying together on this wild and woolly, evocative and provocative life path.
The turning of the wheel of the year has brought us again to the September Equinox. The craziness of summer has departed — no more (or not much more), hot weather, fewer people overflowing on the streets and beaches — and ahead the promise of cooler days, leaves turning magnificent colours, longer afternoons and evenings, inviting tea and coziness.
I love the word Autumn. I like Fall too, but Autumn has such a lovely, resonant ring. So let’s go with Autumn Equinox :-). It’s the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Here’s a bit about its role in the Celtic calendar, where it is called Mabon (or Mahon)…it is a “step between the light and the dark”.
Since Autumn Equinox is half way between the summer and winter solstices, balance comes easily to mind…yet living in balance can be quite a dance. It seems an appropriate theme for this note and these times.
There is the obvious balance of light — half the day is light and half dark. But let us take our musings a bit further, and acknowledge the deep need for balance amidst the unsettling, disruptive events that characterize our current times of breakdown and disruption. It is vital we cultivate and find our balance, inner and outer; vital that we balance the ‘doom and gloom’ reporting with all the good that is happening in the world. In the Dance metaphor, let us take the steps to balance our busy-ness with calm, relaxing, grounding and gratitude; take steps to balance our (likely too much) computer and screen time with more time in nature; balance our ‘lots of people’ times with quiet and solitude…. You get the drift! I invite us all to gently take stock and, without any shame or blame, to make adjustments that feel healthy and nourishing. And to do this lightly, as if we were dancing our way into fall with grace and gratitude and balance.
In case you would like a practice to help create balance from the inside out, you might enjoy Finding Inner Balance: A Heart math practice. Personally, I LOVE the Heart Math work, and find they offer key resources in this dance of balance. I would be pleased to hear about any areas of balance or shifts toward balance you would like to share.
And to delight our other senses, here is a reprise of one person’s dance of balancing, a short video of Pontus Jansson’s work, a first rate rock balancer. I love the music too. Breathe deeply and enjoy!
Finally, check out this TED talk by Angus Hervey, Fix the News. It’s called Of Monsters and Miracles… about how it’s so easy to get pushed completely off balance by the common news feeds of doom and gloom, horrors and disasters. They are here. No doubt. And there is so much more. Where do we want to align ourselves? With whom shall we dance?
Be well, kind, safe, calm, relaxed, and full of ease and joy, and may you find ways that enliven you to find your dance with balance.
I love sharing my musings, a selection of links I have found beautiful, helpful, inspirational, informative, and I love knowing that we are in an extended circle, sharing our lives, our becoming, our journeys with each other. Not only are we not alone, we are very much in this together, interdependently. How we live and love, talk and travel, ripples out and affects everything.
“May our concerted efforts pull us through and out to the new post-capitalist culture of interbeing, consciousness, care and co-creativity that is being birthed now, as we live and speak and share.”
Overcoming Challenges: The dance of balance. Here are some past and recent blog posts relevant for these times and the season. Enjoy, and feel free to share any comments or questions. I love hearing from you.
How Do We Create Balance in our Lives? A bit of a catalogue of skillful means, and some glorious images to impress the beauty of balance on our souls.
Balancing Act: Balance: What does it mean? Why is it important? How do we find it? What are the ‘rocks’ that are our own personal challenge to balance, and how do these change over time? What happens when our towers topple? How does our balance depend on others?
Cultivate Kindness: It Changes Us and Everything! As I reflect on our continuing challenging circumstances—the great unknowns and disasters of climate disruption, horrific and illegal behaviors by elected officials, economic craziness, and much more—several things are clear…
