What Does Balance Have to Do with Self-love?

At the Sonoma Ashram the leaves on the trees are still green and the fruit is still ripening on the vine. Grapes, apples and strawberries are ready to be picked; and the figs, too!

Red, green and yellow peppers are dangling….begging to be released. Even the tiny hot red peppers are crying for relief.

As the clock turns to the season of autumn here in the northern hemisphere, it brings with it a day of complete EQUANIMITY and BALANCE. There is nothing partial to light or dark today. There is no leaning in one direction more than the other today. TODAY IS A DAY OF COMPLETE BALANCE. 12 hours of light; 12 hours of dark. The perfect equanimity.

The fall equinox brings with it the perfect reminder of SELF LOVE. How you might ask?

Well here are a few figs that could be ripening on your own tree ready to be picked:

• The most obvious one is living a life of BALANCE. People often talk about life/work balance and for sure this is important. But how about BALANCE of inner and outer? The BALANCE of paying attention to what your inner guidance is telling you and your outer “responsibilities?”

• The BALANCE of following your heart and listening to your mind?

• The BALANCE of taking care of YOU and taking care of others in your inner sphere.

• Regarding light and dark, this is a time to accept it all; embrace it all without partiality towards one of the other.

• Strive towards equanimity. Sitting in traffic is a great reminder to embrace the light and the dark and strive towards acceptance of what is. How do you actually know that getting there sooner is better? Do you really and truly know that to be a fact? I believe in divine timing…..if I miss my plane, I assume that was meant to be. If I miss a meeting because of traffic, same thing. There’s always something going on in the Universe that I don’t know about (a trillion things) and my piece is one small speck…yet somehow we think the entire world will fall apart of we are late. Just an example….

So my invitation to you today – no matter where you are in the world (and you are indeed all over the world) — is to acknowledge the day.

It’s not just the first day of fall – it’s an invitation from the sun and the moon to see them both. To honor them both. To not feel partial towards one or the other. To not judge one or the other, but instead practice being PRESENT with both, and, all of what is.

If you think about it for just one second you will see how beautifully you will be LOVING YOURSELF when you do this.

With so much love from the Ashram in Sonoma, CA.