Whoops!
Many of us have been more active this past winter than we have been in a
long time. What do we do now?
How can we reflect this changing cycle? If you are like me, you fire yourself up for an
action and before there’s a chance to sit back and reflect, a new action claims
our attention.
How do we find Balance?
Clarissa Pinkola Estes is frequently quoted
saying, “We are made for these
times….”
Indeed it seems that we are. We charge into the fray feeling empowered
among our sisters and brothers working together. Idyllic? Yes.
Then we turn on our device-of-choice to
find ourselves called back to the streets, the phone, the letter-writing desk,
the meeting, the workshop. The
possibilities for action facing us seem endless.
We need a strategy that allows us to be our
best selves; to keep on keepin’ on because the world needs us. Perhaps your strategy is to make phone
calls. Maybe your strategy is following
specific trusted news sources. Or do you
answer the call that sends chills up and down your spine?
In whatever way you answer the call of
today’s world, take this moment when the darkness and the light are equal, and
find your inner balance.
Some years ago, a group of us met in a
friend’s field to celebrate the Equinox.
The invitation suggested that we wear boots because the just melting
fields were muddy. New life was springing
up around us.
Our hostess invited us bring some
good-sized stones, one for each thing that claimed our attention. We lugged our stones out to the field where
she had mowed a circle in last year’s fallen grasses. She had several large, flat stones piled in
the center of the circle. Next to them
was a long, pine board.
We acknowledged our space as sacred,
invited the sacred elements and allies to accompany us as we turned the Wheel
of the Year. Then our hostess gave us
our instructions.
“Place the board on the pile of rocks so
that it is balanced.
Place your stones on one end of the
board. Place as many stones as you need
to account for the activities that claim your energy. Name the activities as you place the stone on
the board.
“Now.
Stand on the other end of the board.
“Where do you need to be in order to balance
your stones?
“Can you balance your life? Are you too far out on the edge to balance
your stones? Are you too close into the
center?
“What do you need to do to be in balance?”
It was a remarkable exercise. We had to look at the things we thought were important. Was the lengths we went to in order to
achieve this balance how we wanted to use our life force?
We were a lot younger then.
We fell off a lot.
We laughed and giggled and got quite
muddy.
But we got the message.
Which stones did we need to keep, which were
less important? What did we need to let
go of in order to bring our lives into balance?
Today we might try this on a tabletop. Using pebbles rather than rocks. How do we need to take care for ourselves in
order to balance our offerings to the world?
As the world invites us to step up and into
action, we need to choose our battles.
And rest in between.
Let us take this moment, this Equinox, to
imagine our pile of rocks/responsibilities/desires. How we might balance them
with the energy we truly have available.
And then let us show up with our full
energy available. To each aspect of life
that we know we can take on!
Happy Equinox!
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