Equinox of the Heart

As the sun angles shift and the steep lines of winter approach, the juniper trees and ponderosa pines reflect a rusty ocher blush. The sun coaxes more intense color from tree bark and everything else. Early morning dew, tinged with frost, scatters the light into thousands of tiny diamonds. I can feel change coming. The equinox now divides day and night into equal parts, inviting us to pause and take a breath of remembrance.

We remember balance amidst change. Day and night, darkness and light, are now undivided in our awareness, and we realize that natural cycles always seek this harmony. Although summer and winter seem to favor heat and cold, balance is retained through the alternating cycles—and the equinox teaches us about the blessings inside the transition. As the highs and lows of life pass one another, we find respite in the fact that ultimately, balance is always restored.

Rhythms of the seasons mirror the seasons of the heart as it negotiates alternating expansions and contractions of life. The heart always knows what to do to keep the life-blood circulating just like the mind innately understands what the heart teaches. We cannot have contractions without relaxation, or we would die. Neither can we be truly relaxed without standing in our strength. I wonder why we don’t listen to what the heart reveals in every beat.

Now, as I finish writing this, it is midday near the dawning of the autumnal equinox. The birds are singing, their melodies intermingling with the wind as it dances through the prayer flags in our backyard. I send the prayers by focusing my intention and letting go, holding and releasing, holding and releasing, on and on, to all beings—because that is what the heart teaches.