In the Balance

Painting Celtic Equinox Sun and Moon by Melissa A. Benson

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As fast as the rain began, it stops. The sun seems ever brighter behind dark clouds. The day opens and all begins again.

Today is the Spring Equinox. Day and night, light and dark share equal time, for a moment, balance. We rest at the precipice of the fall towards longer days. We are reborn into another season and in the stillness of this balance we can let Nature have its way. There is no stopping spring from coming. There is no stopping the rain. There is only the reverence which fills us if we’ll let it.

Do we build a life or does Life build us? We build only in the sense that we open ourselves to the forces that create.

Stillness. The wind even slows to an almost imperceptible movement of leaf and flower. My breath slows. Peace presides. There is only this and the possibility that lives within spring, within us. Always within, deep into the source of all we find what we’ve been looking for. I step out into a new day, a new season and it is everything.

Build a Life Based on Beauty

Butterflies, wild flowers and swallows, one by one come into my consciousness. All is awakening.

These are signs of spring, of renewal and rebirth that I have noticed a lot lately. This morning I spotted a small flock of cliff swallows flying about outside my window. And now they’re back. They swirl and swoop. They arrive with the vital energy of spring. Maybe they will take up residence in our terraced neighborhood, nesting under the clay tiles of our rooves.

In these days of transition between winter and spring, we get to witness many firsts and great flowerings. These liminal days are powerful times in which we can, if we become very still, catch a glimpse of the beauty that underlies all we see.

This beauty lives in us, but so often we’re too busy, too clouded and clogged to recognize it. But it is here that all life truly begins. It is what holds us even now though we may see nothing but disharmony and ugliness.

To build a life based on beauty is to realize it right where you are. When swallows rise up from the south to fly outside your window, notice. When butterflies flicker at the edge of your field of vision, notice. When wild flowers rise in the desert, notice. The weed that breaks through a crack in the sidewalk, the moonlight glittering on late spring snow, the smile from a passerby, notice all of it.

We are walking bundles of awareness, creating our world from within. We notice beauty, because it is what we are. When we see death and decay, it doesn’t have to be ugly. They are merely stages of transition. All is becoming. In the in-between-moments we come face to face with our own becoming. We realize transition is always happening. Spring is not static; it is on its way to becoming summer. In these days before spring, I see beauty just as I see beauty in the darkest days before winter. It is because beauty is the basis of all life.

Take a few moments during this liminal time to slow down and feel the wonder of being alive. Catch sight of the beauty that wants to break through every fiber of being. Let beauty become the path. Open to it and you will discover exactly who you are.

An Ode to Women on International Women’s Day

Image by johnhain on Unsplash

One by one they pull back the veil and step upon the stage of this moment.

This is you. This is me. This is now.

It’s time to rise and meet the stars that birthed us and continue to live within us.

Every day women rise with the dawn and begin the work of building their life. But their work is not only for themselves. It’s for those standing next to them and those falling into bed on the other side of the Earth, exhausted by the day.

We step up to the moment ready, courage in our hearts, love in our hands. There is no moment bereft of our compassion. If we falter, she lifts us. If we soar, she encourages us. When we turn around we see the heart of the world beating in the bodies of all the women. All the women rising. Not just moon, she is sun, a force on fire with purpose. Her pull is strong and she leads the way.

How Do You Want to Spend Your Days?

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Shafts of sunlight burn through the clouds and touch the Earth. Even the darkest clouds clear away. On those days when things aren’t going well we can know it’s only temporary. And we can know the light is within and always shining.

Sometimes we need the clouds. They tell us something about ourselves, and they give us time to ask ourselves how we want to spend our days. At night they reflect the city lights, turning night into a strange kind of daytime. Awake in the night we reflect on what we want and on what we have. If we can allow gratitude into our hearts the light will begin to burn away the cloudiness.

I sit here and watch the clouds drift by and wish I were more productive this morning. But then I realize even as I drift, I’m learning. And here I am in front of the computer writing these words. Rain or shine we can show up. It’s how we prepare ourselves for more. We build discipline and become good students of life.

Our life is made up of moments like these. Clouds drift, mind drifts, insights come… Each moment shares its secret with us if we are listening. And we listen by showing up for them, which is showing up for ourselves.

Now the sun is shining. The winds of thought blow and the clouds move on.

Build a Life

Sometimes we’re so busy focusing on one aspect of our lives that others begin to wither. Eventually even the part we focused on begins to suffer because of the imbalance.

Months ago the phrase “Build a Life Not an Empire” came to me. At first I thought it was because I saw so many people bent on living the hustle and burning out. But I saw that I too was living out of balance. I may have balked at the hustle, but I was still only focused on one or two aspects of my life.

Some of the imbalance comes from codependent behaviors I developed from childhood and some from current circumstances. When we’re codependent we focus only on others and in an especially unhealthy way. And sometimes current situations leave you feeling as though you have to focus all your energy on one thing.

Balance is everything. As a Priestess of the goddess Ma’at you’d think I’d get this balance and harmony thing. But I am a Priestess of Ma’at because it’s what I need to realize in my life. We are complex beings. We feel whole when we acknowledge all aspects of ourselves and work to integrate them. I’m still learning to live in balance and I understand that balance is not a static state. Integration is an ongoing process of making whole.

Teaching has become a larger part of my process. I hope that you will join me for the workshops I’ve created and continue to create. The main things I’m working on right now are gratitude, forgiveness, connection and solitude, so, of course, I’m teaching about those. I’m also a writer and as I work towards success there, I’ll be facilitating workshops and programs in embodying what I call the 5 Predictors of Success as well some on the creative process itself.

All things naturally move towards balance and harmony if we let them. As we open ourselves to life and trust it we begin to realize we are already whole and holy. There really is nothing we need to do. Our becoming is a given when we can simply be in the mystery of Being Itself.