Finding Balance
Hello Friends,
Saturday the 23rd of September happened to be the autumn equinox when the sun is exactly above the equator and night and day are of equal length. It signifies the start of fall and is a doorway into winter. I had been feeling a build-up of pressure from being pulled in many directions and decided to attend a special Kundalini yoga class marking the equinox.
Much of my writing in this newsletter involves observing the present moment (as poetry requires) or writing about the future (literary and charitable activities coming up), but we’re sometimes called to look to the past in order to know how to move forward or to learn from mistakes that could have been avoided. Without reflection or awareness, we become like lost, floating particles with no purpose and no plan for our life or our future. Essentially, living by the seat of our pants.
After that yoga class, I felt a shift and was able to find balance and to turn my attention inward. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of calm and peace. My heart felt at peace and in acceptance, even those things that made me nervous. In this environment, I realized what I felt from a passage from Onsi Al-Hajj’s poem (Lebanese poet 1937-2014) in his book “The Messenger with Her Long Hair to the Springs”:
And I remained in captivity
Under whose feet the ground is safe
I remained in captivity
Her face waits like an enchanted lake
Time is tired
It crosses savage rocks
Comes towards her saying:
“Peace be upon you”
I am the echo to sound
I am the flock to the shepherd
I stayed in captivity
Since creation
Onsi Al-Hajj translated by Ruba Abughaida
In poetry I always look for the unexpected, the dazzling words, the pleasure, the longing, the meaning, an echo of another poetry or song, a story connected to poetry and a connection between the old and the new. All of these ingredients are alive and vibrant. Meaning, as a solution to the conflict between two parties or between two aspects of our personality.
In this poem, we read about something that is unimaginable or that stands as a barrier that sometimes moves or bends to develop something better. The autumn equinox reminded me that all of these components are the foundation of life and that a person can find self-peace at the point of equinox.
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