Balancing Balance

      The search for balance is a part of life in the Millennium.
     This week Northern Hemisphere is crossing the Autumnal Equinox, and as the north enjoys the festival of Mabon, south of the equator this is Ostara. Many people acknowledge the day: memes scroll across social media, and inspirational slogans about balance show up in emails, tweets and blogs. Mine is no exception.
     Solstices have an air of the radical about them. In December and June they indicate massively important information about our position in relation to the sun. They are “longest” and “shortest” and “most” and “least”.
     Equinoxes are more moderate, perhaps less noticeable: they note the moment when a slowly moving change reaches a peak, of sorts, and begins to gallop at speed. This is entirely a perception and not a truth. The daily changes are essentially constant. The Equinox is the point at which there is a difference in the ratio: the relationship between the amount of light and the amount of dark.
     The truth is that every day there are tiny incremental shifts as we move around the continuous cycle of seasonal change. It makes little sense to attach meaning to one day of the cycle and neglect all others. Seeking balance in life is not an activity limited to two days of the year, anyone on such a quest is well advised to seek balance in every day and hour and moment.
     As children, my friends and I used to play a wobbly game in which we placed a short plank over a rolling tin or post, and we would attempt to stand with our feet on each end of the plank. The results were less elegant than shown in this picture,
[from http://www.extremehorizon.com/surf-shop/surfing-fitness-and-health.html]
yet the learning was the same.
     Balance is not a single thing. To stand on this equipment we had to adjust our position front to back, and left to right, and up to down. Ankles, knees, hips and shoulders swayed and swiveled as we sought to remain upright. Arms extended and circled and flapped.  The ability to remain standing – balanced – was ongoing and required a great deal of concentration and intention.
     Life is like that. No single choice or decision leads to balance. A balanced and sensible approach to career does not automatically create balance in personal relationships: there is always another tippy place; there is still a need to shift, maybe to flail.
     At this time of year, the Northern hemisphere is displaying the decay within the physical cycle. Plants are perishing and crumbling, releasing their components into winter insulation and the nutrients of next year. The Living Layer of the planet is fully balanced as the southern hemisphere gathers from the soil and embarks on expanding into spring. 
     The equinox message is that every part of life is a part of life. Every change in our own physical expression is part of a cycle much greater than ourselves.
     On the mental plane, meditation serves the search for balance: whether it is practiced for introspection and connexion to inner wisdom, or used with guidance programs to encourage new attitudes and behaviours.
     Finding equilibrium on the emotional plane is advanced by allowing cosmic energy to flow. The flowing-through means releasing egoistic control, and simply allowing rather than restricting or holding within. When we clench our emotions, and cling to anger or sorrow the energy flow is stopped. If we attempt to project a happiness that is absent, or we give lip-service to contentment we think we *should* feel, then the ever-moving waves of natural feeling are halted, and we become disconnected from any balance on this vital plane of experience.
     Finding balance on the spiritual plane is surely the very purpose for which we, as spiritual beings, have adopted the human experience. As we mature and learn, we move towards the centre of self. As we find ways to reconcile the teachings of all the other planes, we recognize the intentions with which we arrived. All that we have survived has contributed to our survival, and who we are today is an absolute miracle, no matter how wobbly we sometimes feel. 

     Jo Leath has been supporting clients through change and growth since the 1980s.
     To help to reconcile the energies of your planes, consider a numerology chart here
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