Balance in a world of extremes

 [Note: this post was originally published on October 7, 2023] 

How we heal

 We just passed one of my favorite times of year, the Autumnal Equinox. I love the balance between daylight and darkness that comes with this time of year.  

I also know I’m an outlier and many people dread this celestial event because of the upcoming winter and long hours of darkness that it brings about for us in the Northern Hemisphere. 

However, I’ve always been sensitive to sunlight, not just my skin, which burns in mere moments in certain situations, but also my vision and general well-being. I’ve had more migraines than I care to remember simply because I spent too long outside on a sunny day. The added hours of daylight in the middle of summer have me looking for my house cave, or at least a shady tree, a hat, and very dark sunglasses! 

So yes, this half of the year is my preferred space. Just as others feel energized by sunlight, I am energized by this balance of daylight and darkness and by the inward glow of the coming darker hours and the reflection and creativity it can bring about for me. Especially in this time of man-made climate change, where human activities have knocked the natural world out of balance, having some balance, some return to our natural cycle of light and dark, is welcome. 

I am also thinking about how our society keeps reeling towards extremes right now and how much it’s throwing us all off balance. We each have a slightly different point of view, even if we’re “on the same side”. When we add all the imbalance of “extreme this” or “far [to one side or the other] that” we lose some of the essence of our humanity. We “other” the “other side”, see them as less than human, then proceed to create all sorts of horror stories about them, either in our own minds, or out loud, and our society falls further out of balance and farther away from embracing all of our humanity. 

While you may prefer the bright light of summer, the long hours, the heat (ok, maybe not quite so much heat!), remember that our world works best when it’s in balance. Nature, including our own bodies, works in cycles and finds a place of equilibrium, a balance that allows us all to flourish. 

When I think about the things that I’ve learned recovering from old traumas and burnout, I am reminded of the balance required to heal. We, as individuals, can’t heal in an extreme environment, and neither can society. To heal, we need to find balance: some rest, some activity; some quiet, some noise; some light, some dark.  

As we move into the darker side of the year, remember that it’s a cycle and that it brings balance to our lives and to our world. Our natural world requires it to be able to live. The bears need to hibernate to be able to bring forth new cubs in the spring, just as the trees need to shed their leaves so they can survive the winter and re-emerge in the spring with new life. We, too, need this cycle, this balance.

Embrace balance as part of our existence as humans. When we can find ways to bring reflection and balance into our life, we can heal. When we are able to heal, rather than stagnate in an extreme, we can live and thrive again.