A Balancing Act

Tonight marks the Autumnal
Equinox, the beginning of fall, at 11:09 p.m. EST to be exact.  It is a balance of night and day, light and dark.  It marks the exact time that the position of our sun at the equator is an equal distance from both the North and South poles, creating a balanced 24 hour day of 12 hours darkness and 12 hours of light.  From this point until the Winter Solstice in December, the nights will lengthen and the days grow shorter.

Ancient civilizations celebrated this day long before there was modern science to explain the changing of the seasons. They recognized the mysteries of our world and erected amazing structures like Stonehenge to mark the passing of time and seasons, always with the same theme of balance and wonder.

As we glided through the waning days of summer this year and slid from August into September, I could begin to see and feel the shifting of nature, just like our ancient ancestors.  The hummingbirds feed incessantly at the red nectar that hangs outside my breakfast room window.  There has been a noticable difference the past few weeks in the sunlight with the golden hue that seems to surround the trees with a gauzy haze.  And this year, tomorrow's first official day of Autumn will be marked with the harvest moon, the first full moon of the equinox.  What gifts!   

So Nature is starting its restful time, a time to restore and recuperate.  So it is with me.  I love the fall season with its changes of leaves and hazy sunlight, bright azure skies and crisp nights, ripe apples, pumpkins and scarecrows, hikes in the woods, the smell of fireplace smoke and burning leaves, the first time I put on a favorite sweater or sweatshirt.  But it goes further than that.  It is my own personal time of reassessing my life, a drawing in of myself, of contemplating all that comprises my world.  To put it another way, to restore my own balance of self. 


"Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance how much of ourselves to give away." ~ Barbara DeAngelis

Our lives are all balancing acts.  As in nature, we ebb and flow to natural and seasonal rhythms, but we are often spun off course by the rest of the world and all that happens around us and to us and by events we can and cannot control.  We can get off kilter so very easily.  Sometimes it is difficult to bring our lives back to center in order to focus on ourselves and those around us.  We have to take the time, no - that's not right - we have to MAKE the time to listen to that inner voice longing for personal balance.

"Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day." ~ Robert Fulghrum

So here is my request to each of you this week as fall begins - tonight as the darkness of autumn arrives, MAKE the time to walk outside, even if only for a few moments.  Look into the night sky and soak in the Harvest Moon and celebrate the coming season.  Vow to listen to your own inner voice that tells you what you need and want from life.  Find the balance we all so desperately seek.  Refresh your zeal for life in the upcoming months of fall as we approach the season of gratitude and giving. 

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us.  If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise (wo)man."~ Euripedes