On Wednesday is the Autumn Equinox, where the hours of daylight and dark are in balance.
After the Equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere, the darkness lengthens until the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day and longest night of the year, and then the light grows until the Spring Equinox, where day and night are equal again, and then daylight grows until the Summer Solstice.
How can we use those changes in the light experientially, and as useful tools in our goals, dreams, and resolutions?
We can use those days to reset ourselves.
As a yoga practitioner, on the Equinoxes, I do an additional sequence of balancing poses. It’s not like the story of balancing an egg at the exact moment of the Equinox; it’s still not easy for me to do some of the poses! But I do the poses to remind myself that the Equinoxes are about balance. How have I come unbalanced? How can I re-balance?
This year has been very unbalanced for me, because of the move. Since I am home-and-hearth-oriented (even though I love to travel), if my home situation is uncertain, everything else is way out of balance.
I love where I live now; even though I’m not yet fully unpacked, I am happy, and it feels like home.
This helps stabilize me when it comes to my work, be it my own writing or contracted writing.
I also want to make sure I don’t fall down the remote rabbit hole of all-work all the time. I’m carving out time off, be it a few hours midweek to do something when the weather is still gorgeous, or there’s something wonderful happening. I can then decide if I want to work longer weekdays around it and still take off the weekend, or if it makes more sense to redefine what my “weekend” is for that week, and work through the traditional weekend.
Having this flexibility helps keep me balanced. So do my yoga, meditation, and journal writing practices. That gives me the foundation to do creative work, which is both my job and my passion.
A new place requires new routines, and I’m giving myself the gift of letting them shape organically, and being flexible when I need to make changes. Flexibility gives me more stability than rigid timeframes. But that flexibility needs to be MINE, not dictated by an outside force. Yes, I use outside circumstances to shape the week, such as weather (which is even a bigger deal here than it was on Cape Cod), deadlines, and the needs of each assignment. But the final decision, and the final shaping is MINE.
That gives me a far greater sense of balance than To Do Lists, regimented work hours, and the rest.
On Wednesday, I will take extra time with my rituals and practices, and concentrate on the sense of balance. By discovering what structures and flexes give me that sense of balance, I can continue to build a more wholistic life that encompasses both work and life in a healthy way, instead of accepting that the two portions of my life are separate and need to fight each other.
How will you experience balance this equinox? What makes you feel balanced and whole?
I am working on the questions for 2022, and hope to post them soon.
Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions 
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