Equinox as the Balance Point in Outer Nature
And
Inner Landscapes
We come again now to the Autumn Equinox. The revered Greek goddess Gaia is the protector and nurturer of all living beings and the land that sustains them. As the Earth Mother, she reigns supreme and presides over the culmination of the bountiful harvest. Harvest Festivals complete with overflowing feasts, singing, parades, traditional dances, ritual and ceremony proliferate the world over. To mention only a few: Sukkot in the Judaic tradition, the Rice Harvest festival in Hindu culture, the Moon Festival featuring moon cake delicacies in Taiwan and China, the Yam festival of the Ewe people in Ghana, and Thanksgiving here in North America.
There are only two times of year when the Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in Balance: a nearly equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes. At this time of balance in the natural world, we are called to examine the balance of opposites within our inner landscapes:
Is my life well-balanced between work and rest?
Between a busy social calendar and quiet home-time with family?
Between work indoors and rejuvenation in nature’s healing rhythms?
Between screen time and human time?
Between outer responsibilities and inner yearnings?
Twenty-first century culture does not foster the capacity to live in balance life, whether in the exterior world or interior spheres. Work obligations follow us home in the computer case, while time for rest and contemplation is interrupted by the incessant ping of our phones. How do we practice balance in the midst of such obstacles? Self-care is a beginning step. Click on this link to learn Heart-Breathing, a simple self-care tool that travels with you wherever you go, and can be practiced with eyes open and in the midst of life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nr63KQzZrY
Self-awareness and self-compassion are the foundational steps toward self-care. A well-cared-for Self creates a strong, flexible footing for sensitive awareness and responsiveness as we care for our families and other realms of life. If you practice meditation you are familiar with the deep sense of self-care it offers, and the Heart Breathing you learned in the video above, is simplicity itself. Self- care is the basis of care for others and care for life itself. Remember what the flight attendant tells us on every flight: Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.
We offer our best selves to the world when we strive toward compassion, and this always begins with self-compassion. We do this by working with intention, time, space, and form.
1. First make a clear and focused intention to practice self-care.
2. Then make time: choose a time of day that you can consistently turn toward self-care. If you are lucky this time may be on the meditation cushion, but if you are like many of us, you will find moments-between when three conscious breaths are sustenance.
-3. -Make space: will this be indoors or outdoors, in the kitchen or the garden….
4. Decide a form: will you choose to consciously breathe, walk, cook, garden….? Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk and world teacher shows us that simple acts like walking, cooking and even hugging are valuable moments to practice presence.
We make an inner intention and then arrange our outer life to support this inner striving.
In his straightforward, beautiful book, How God Changes Your Brain, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg says, according to his research and that of others, to increase a felt-experience of self-compassion and peace through the activation of the anterior cingulate (the angel lobes):
“Simply focus on compassion or an image of peace as you breathe deeply and relax. Hold this thought for twelve minutes each day and in a matter of a few months you’ll begin to build and strengthen new neural circuits of compassion.... To establish empathy and serenity you simply need to absorb yourself in memories associated with the feelings of kindness and love. If you consciously interrupt pessimistic thoughts and feelings with optimistic beliefs . . . you will stimulate your anterior cingulate, your “angel lobes.” Fear, anxiety, and irritability will decrease and a sense of peacefulness will slowly take its place. It is a simple seesaw effect. Love goes up and fear goes down. Anger goes up and compassion goes down. The choice is entirely yours”.
The choice is wholly ours: We can choose self-care and thereby make new neural pathways of compassion. Three interconnecting principles that can be distilled from most of the world’s spiritual practices are Intention, Relaxation, and Awareness. These can be a foundation for us as we explore self-care. Let’s look at a few activities that we do every day and imagine what our family or classroom life can be when we bring intention, relaxation, and awareness to them.
Simple activities in which we practice Intention, Relaxation, and Awareness:
Walking: It is rare to walk with awareness; usually our thoughts run out ahead of us. Think of at least one time each day you can slow your pace, relax, listen to the rhythm of your footsteps, and become present in your body. Choose a time ~ maybe as you walk to the mailbox ~ and bring awareness and relaxation to your gait. Sometimes you will remember, sometimes not. When you do remember, let yourself feel the reward of pleasure and goodness as you practice being aware and relaxed in a human body.
Cooking: After a long day, preparing the evening meal can be stressful. Slow your pace and turn your attention to the lovely food in front of you. Slowly chop red peppers, breathe in their tang and the deep sweetness of the carrots. Listen to the sizzle of the onions and garlic cooking on the stove. Choose one meal that you prepare each day, and bring yourself to awareness and relaxation.
Cleaning: Try cleaning with gratitude instead of grim determination. I can hear you laughing as you read this; try it, please! Ready yourself with a song. Hum a few rounds of a soothing song. Remind yourself of gratitude-- maybe not necessarily for the chore, but for your family, your life full of those you love, for laughter and the nights you sleep well, and yes, even for all the mess this circle of love creates. This is a wonderful way to experience the miracle of inner speech—gently prod yourself toward gratitude; sing and feel a little smile forming; feel your heart growing brighter and the load lighter. Sometimes I laugh at myself for being led toward happiness so easily.
Breathing, Walking, Cooking, Cleaning
These are simple activities that we do every day of our life. They are opportunities to devote twelve minutes to care for our self while caring for our family. It is our consciousness alone—the use of our heart and the prefrontal cortex ~ the angel lobes ~ that determines the quality of these everyday events. We can aim for the stars; we can guide ourself toward high ideals right in the middle of a very commonplace ordinary day. Amid good food and daily chores, stories and homework, we can build a new future. We do it right here, exactly where we are One Breath at a Time.
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https://www.sharifaoppenheimer.org
There you’ll find Nesting Circles of Belonging ~ Family, Nature and Cosmos.
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Photo by Jeremy Thomas Unsplash
