Seasons That Change Us
What the Equinox teaches us about balance and harmony
Sunset over the Arade River, Algarve, Portugal from one of my favorite viewing spots.
Soon, we will perform the ritual of changing the clocks, which supposedly signifies spring. For me, this artificial boundary between darkness and light means little. Instead, I look to the ancients, the time of the Equinox, when life is recalibrating.
It’s been raining for weeks (actually months!) here in the Algarve. And it’s been dark, windy, and cold—all the things that depress me. I need more light. I’m fine with being in a womb-like state for a while, but this year, it hit me harder.
Then, we had a few days where the sun shone, and the light glistened on the plants. Life was blooming everywhere. It reminded me that nothing is permanent. Everything has its season and the cycles feed each other. From the rain and moist earth, life emerges, full of color and vitality. With the light, I enter the next season, aware that moment-to-moment life is dancing around me.
This shift always leaves me contemplative. I notice the birds more and now the pheasants in the back of my garden become bolder until my dog Sophie approaches them. They half waddle, half run away and that small event causes me to smile. I’m reminded of the simple things in life that I so adore here.
When I return late at night I can’t help but look up into the sky brimming with stars and planets. How small we are in comparison to the vastness of the universe. How arrogant we are believing that we are masters of the earth, of our destinies, of others.
The almond tree begins to blossom gifting me with tender flowers that preceed the hard almonds that inevitably arrive soon. The rains have given life to all of this even if the price to pay was darkness.
As I enter springtime in a world fraught with chaos, war, consumption and greed I need these simple reminders in nature to maintain my faith that there is good in the world, all around me, and I may lose my way at times in the darkness.
But then there are flowers, and pheasants, birds singing and shining stars to remind me that life is not to be taken for granted.
Every day is a gift.
How do you move through the seasons? Do you have a favorite season? Why?
