Find Balance
As I write this, the Spring Equinox is just a few days away. A word that comes to mind when I think “Spring” is balance. It is a day of the year that we experience equal light and equal dark. When looking at nature and the cycles it moves through, I find it interesting how it leans towards balance. Spring is the time when new life emerges, the trees bud and flowers bloom. Fall is when that which bloomed, now must let go, and the leaves fall - they know that if they hang on, it would be detrimental to them surviving the winter.
This idea of balance, the balance in holding on and letting go, can be difficult to navigate in life. When I lived in Alaska, I would walk breathtaking trails that were right outside my front door. You smell the moss, the pine trees, you can literally feel the life that surrounds you there. Those trails would have trees that had fallen, probably well before I was born, and the dead or decaying tree would provide nutrients for new life to emerge. It would be covered in moss or lichen and new trees would even begin to grow from them. To me, this is another beautiful way that nature embodies balance. Something that seemingly has died, is now the fertile ground for something new.
I find this fascinating because it means that whenever endings come, something new will follow. However, just like the tree that has fallen in the forest, we may not see new life emerge for some time. I believe that we can train ourselves to see that when something has come to an end, a beginning will eventually follow. We find the balance in holding on and letting go. We let go of what is no longer serving us, we let go of the pain, and hold onto the lessons or truths that have emerged from the destruction.
We come to see that just like in yoga, when you are standing in a tree pose, life is always in motion - your ankle and leg muscles are always slightly moving to keep you in balance. Life will always continue. Even when it may seem that nothing new is emerging, it is still moving forward. It is moving towards balance.
I invite you to ponder on these questions:
What is ready to release in your life? That if you weren’t to let go of it, it would weigh you down.
What has felt like an ending but you are beginning to see something new unfold? Maybe something better, more aligned.
As we move forward into the warmer and longer days - remember that those too will come to an end and then emerge again. Nature is in a cycle of expansion and contraction. None of it is good or bad, it just is. It is the natural cycle of life unfolding. Balance for me has the foundation of trust. Trust that what must fall away will bring something else, maybe different than how I thought but also maybe even better than I imagined.
May you gift yourself grace as you navigate the seasons of life.
And as always, Shar(e)on Lightly.