Springing into Balance

let yourself bloom

Welcome to the Iridescent Ordinary, where we explore the art of the daily practice

Happy Spring.

That’s not a platitude, it’s kind of a big deal.

Today is the spring equinox, we are under skies with equal hours of day and night. Our earthen home and brilliant sun are carrying on with their gorgeously synchronized rhythmic seasonal dance.  The world continues spinning, and we continue being part of the whole experience.

How is that experience working out for you?

How are you with your daily practice?

Are you holding steady with a glass of lemon water and a moment of reflection every morning? Are you crushing it with a solid routine of meditation, exercise and journaling? Do you have grand intentions and ambitions but the most you can manage as a daily practice is to hit the snooze button at least 3 times before dragging yourself out of bed, your before bed practice is to scroll Instagram until you fall asleep?

No matter where you are on this spectrum, a change of seasons is a perfect opportunity to sit down and reflect about where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there.

Today, Sunday, at the precise moment that I am sending this message out, we will have reached vernal equinox (Latin for equal night.) When the sun passes across the equator on its northward shift, the astronomical event is equal amounts of day and night all over the world.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it signals the beginning of spring, longer days, shorter nights, and warmer weather. Our Southern hemisphere friends, however, will bid adieu to their long golden evenings for a descent into longer nights and colder temperatures.

This vernal equinox is considered the astrological new year, we transition from Pisces, the final sign of the old year and welcome a new astrological year with Aries.

This official transition to more daylight and warmer temperatures has been celebrated all over the world for millennia. Before we had color-changing LED bulbs, HVACs, imported avocados and canned veggies at Family Dollar, winter was a long, depressing, and deadly prospect to humanity. The return of light was the biggest celebration around.

Nowruz (Persian for new day) is the traditional Persian/Iranian festival celebrating the return of light and warmth. It happens at the exact moment the sun enters Aries before noon. For hundreds of millions of people, this is the official start of the new year. It is feted with food, family, friends, and a big old housecleaning binge.

Holi is an ancient Hindu festival celebrating love, the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness. It takes place during the full moon just before the vernal equinox (two days ago). It is literally an explosion of color and love where celebrants throw colored powdered or spray colored water on one another. There is singing, there is dancing. There are sweets.

Depending on your source (or your math), over a billion people celebrate one of those two holidays.  

Why do they get to have all the fun throwing color around, eating celebratory food and feeling a sense of joyous festivity?

Why not observe your own private equinox ritual?

I’m a sucker for new beginnings, any excuse to feel like I can begin again: Sundays, Mondays, new months, new moons, full moons, mornings, showers. New Sponge Day.

When can’t one benefit from a fresh start?

An equinox is a perfect natural pause for stocktaking. (I’m going to come at you with the same thing in 3 month’s time at the solstice).

Find some time wherever you can today to examine the habits, rituals, and patterns of your everyday. Take a good look at what you’re doing and not doing, what’s working and not working, what can stay and what can go. You can journal, make lists, doodle, or just have a good old heart to heart with your brain.

Think of your daily practice like a piece of highway or in an airport bathroom. When new, it was dazzling, shiny and seemed perfect. At first, it seemed to suit its initial requirements. But as it came into regular use, it proved cumbersome or not-quite-right. You realized that the flow was off, maybe things clump together, there is dead space or there is no room for movement. What you thought worked well, really didn’t.

That’s okay.

You’re only faced with shifting parts of your day, not moving plumbing or highway exits.

How about sitting down with a tea or coffee (or fizzy water or smoothie) and some colored pens or markers? Make it a moment worthy of astronomical alignment. Start by writing down all the things that you do every day (including stuff like walking the dog, checking emails, playing wordle, showering, commuting—seriously, all the things).

What is not serving you that you can let go of?

What small actions do you feel would enrich your day?

What will add to your growth?

What sucks, but you need to keep at? (work, commuting)

What can you switch around?

Don’t overthink this. Spring is a time for impulsivity.

What is it that you need to really bloom?

Have you been inspired by Leila Simon Haye’s beautiful daily art practice and want to bring some art and creativity into your life?

Like I said before, maybe you’re crushing it. Yay for you. But how would you really know if you didn’t stop for a quick inventory.

Today is a perfect day to create balance where the light can exceed what is dark.