The Autumn Equinox is Coming!
The Autumn Equinox is Coming!
It’s almost here! From March 18 – 22 we enjoy the benefits of the Autumn Equinox (in the Southern Hemisphere) and the Spring Equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere). It’s a time of Balance when light and dark, night and day are of equal length, a time of major transformation as we begin a new cycle. …allowing us to replace old ways of thinking with better ways more easily.
The Autumn Equinox encourages us to celebrate the last of the summer’s abundance and warmth and to get rid of the “dead wood” in our lives. I have heard from many of you how hard life has become over the past few weeks as we moved toward the equinox, “I’ve lost my mojo Deb, nothing interests me” and “My head and body are not communicating” and “ I can’t get my head around it” have been common remarks.
I have seen many clients in appointments who have been recalibrating who they are, what they want from life and reorganising accordingly. Relationships too have been under the spotlight …anything negative or unsupportive is being re- assessed and recalibrated through improving communication, or discarded.
We are moving through times of great energetic change and as our hearts open by letting go of old pain, resentment and limitations we make room and can step more fully into a loving, fulfilling life. It is time to take the opportunity to heal the hurt from the past, leave behind what no longer works and have energy for life now. To live your “heart’s desire” in every part of your life moving forward.
The following quote is one of my favourites, so much so that it appears in both Living Life Passionately and Ignite Your Heart workshops (with different exercises of course.)
Just Who Will You Be?
“ You know, many years ago, my father gave a college graduation speech where he told the students, “Allow me to challenge you not to think so much about what you will do or where you will go. Allow me to challenge you to think about … what you believe.”
In other words, he was challenging them to look at what they believe, in order to find out who they could become.
In truth, that’s the most important question we can all ask ourselves throughout our lives: “What do I believe – and who do I want to be?” Answering that question is crucial, because what you believe is the foundation upon which you build yourself as you continue to grow. “
Maria Shriver, Just Who Will You Be?
We often forget that who we are is much more than how we earn a living. It’s about HOW we live.
How we live is based on who we are inside…what we value. Values are principles, standards, or qualities considered worthwhile or desirable. Values are motivators:
They propel us into action or stop us in our tracks. Values are what are important to us that we hold ourselves accountable to: integrity, professionalism, caring, teamwork.
Values are integral to the life we are living. In Ignite Your Heart we look how to find and create relationships with people that have same or similar values to ourselves… when we conflict with others often it is because our values conflict.
Think of a couple who both value money. She may value money from the point of creating financial security and consequently saving money is a high priority, while He values money from the point of sharing/ generosity…and spend it on her, his friends, family and charity. Neither is wrong, and both came together saying “Yes, money is important to me”.
HOW they live their lives shows how the one value can be the cause of great conflict in any relationship.
In Living Life Passionately we have a surprising “OMGoodness Deb!!” values exercise that starts a process to show why some goals you set for yourself are still on the To Do list. Our goals need to be aligned with our values to be even on the radar of achievement. If our values conflict with our goals, or if we spend little time living our values we get stuck, stagnant and blocked.
So here’s the Autumn Equinox Exercise to help clear out old values and clarify what is important to you:
Who are You?
1. What would others say your values are? Through the eyes of your Colleagues? Friends? Spouse/ partner? Parents? Write a list of 5 for each
2. Revisit Maria Shriver’s quote to write a list of your Top 5 values…what they when You were a kid AND now…’labels’ that you use to identify yourself and who you want to be moving toward each day (eg. “ I am optimistic/ honest/ caring/ assertive/ brave/ childlike/ unselfish/ creative/ loyal ( to?) confident/ logical/ joyful/ focussed/ vulnerable/ safe/ harmonious/….”)
3. Now tick or highlight the same values on each list.
4. How much of each day would you spend DOing that value? Living it?
5. Make a choice: find 5 actions you can make to your life in the next week that will bring your values in line with the life you are living.
6. Place a candle on top of the Values Action list, repeating 3 times “ I release the old easily and CHOOSE to live my truth gently and easily”
I’d love to hear how you went with this exercise…please email me to let me know.
We also forget we have the CHOICE to be who we want to be. We have the choice to react to life = stress or RESPOND to life…to BE present, balanced, centred and en-JOY life from that space. Most often I see people who are reacting to their life: their job/ bosses; their partners; their parents, their inner most selves and to life.
When we react we can feel angry, fear of loss and separation or we could feel resentment, grief and guilt …all this leads to a feeling of NO Choice, and No Choice equals stress.
These emotional patterns are REACTIONS to stress, and stress can come from fear. When we are in fear our right brain (filled with creative solutions) and our frontal lobe ( where present time and most recent memory sit) go into shutdown mode. This leaves the back left quadrant of the brain handling ‘The Situation’, the home of old memories (The Past) and where neuro-scientists have found that FEAR sits. So our REACTIONS to life are fear based.
Solution? Headhold and breathe…place your hand across the forehead and it adds blood flow to the frontal lobe and the limbic system (Home of Emotions), bringing you back into Present Time and calming you down. Placing your hand across the back, base of the skull helps all quadrants to talk to each other giving you a Whole brain response.
Now BREATHE through your NOSE: In for 4, hold for 2, OUT for 4, hold for 2 and repeat 9 times, and notice how this changes things. …let me know what you noticed!
When we RESPOND to life we are WILLING to release resistance and make Changes that are positive and in support of ourselves and our goals, we are filled with Assurance life will only throw at us what we can handle, we have a sense of Oneness with others, ourself and Life.
Or we have Interest in creating the life we are seeking, we are Equal to the challenge to do so …all this leads to the CHOICE to live the life we are meant to…a life with meaning that is calm and Present.
Enjoy the wonders of the Autumn Equinox!
Be true to you always,
Deb
Music of The Week
Our friend Barry Goldstein has released new Heart Meditation music.
Enjoy!