Fall into Balance

Mornings crisper and darker

Evenings that come quicker

Pumpkins and apple cider

Fall is here!

 

This week is a moment of astronomical, celestial balance.

Fall equinox is one of two moments in the year when the sun illuminates northern and southern hemispheres equally.

On a global level, a moment of balance.

And on a local level, this is a moment where light and dark, day and night are also in balance.

Twelve hours for each.

I invite you to slow for a moment and take in the equinox on a deeper level.

Close eyes if you wish.

Feel the balancing of Mother Earth in her playful conversation with the sun.

Where do you need the equinox energy to restore balance in your life at this moment?

Imagine the gentle pull back from 

tilting, leaning, falling

                            …back into balance

Visualize the     

teeter

&

totter

tethered

to the center

until the sway

is gone altogether

until

you can let go

until

you can just be

until

you just are

until

love is all that is

until

all

is

still

Green Chile Wisdom

 

air crisp with a hint of fall

permeated

perfumed

with green chile’s aroma

flavor and spice mixing in a way that words cannot capture

the land and those who farmed it manifesting like apparitions, Field of Dreams style

how the nose can sense the spice level as if it were the tongue never ceases to amaze

 

Uniquely, green chile is a food delicious but also one that deserves a degree of caution. Not to be consumed blindly and endlessly like chocolate, but one that we sample first to get a sense of the “heat” that particular batch is going to bring.

Green chile demands that we enjoy without over-indulging.

And unlike chocolate, this centerpiece to our NM fall season is never the centerpiece in our dishes. It is added, again, with caution, to flavor the

enchilada, burrito, huevos, 

candy, chocolate, pizza,

salad dressing, peanut brittle, coffee,

popcorn, pistachios, ice cream,

burgers, bread, hummus

chips, paletas…yes, we do go a bit overboard!

Green chile teaches us that we can be great by adding flavor to others, supporting and centering them while we give a nice little spice kick on top.

In being roasted, the chile also reminds that while going through the fire is never pleasant, it does add some delicious flavor.

But here is my biggest takeaway from green chile season:

Giving our prized possessions away to others only enhances their flavor in our lives.

In giving bags of chile to my patients, family, friends (and occasionally to complete strangers), I can almost taste the chile upon my taste buds in return. I like imagining how good they are going to feel when that chile is put on their [see list above]. I enjoy seeing how people treat the gift as something precious, even sacred.

The joy in sharing with others what is most precious to us; Let us savor that flavor this green chile season.

Three Simple Rules for Speaking

My neighbor had a decision to make.

He had paid for a wall to be built and it wasn’t built correctly. In fact, it was leaning and looking ready to fall.

In talking with him, I asked what he was going to do. He mentioned that he could ask a state agency to come out and determine if the wall was constructed correctly, which would be a “no”.

“And then you could get your money back, right?” I asked.

“Not sure. What I am sure of is that it would cause a lot of trouble for the guy who did the wall who was falsely claiming to be licensed.”

Pause.

“But why would I do that? It would ruin him. And I would likely still have a wall that needs to be re-done.”

 

In the last weeks, I have thought a lot about his decision not to pursue retribution for being misled, for paying for wall that was now falling.

Moreover, I thought about his consideration of the harm it would cause another person in this moment where he was the victim.

 

A gentle reminder and an important teaching for all of us today.

Asking ourselves three questions before speaking:

Is it true?

Is it necessary?

Is it kind?

This sentiment is found in many of the world’s religions; a quick web search will result in Buddha, Rumi and others linked to such questioning.

These three specific questions were posed by a Victorian poet, Mary Ann Pietzker, who published a poem “It is True? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?” in 1872. I will share that piece here, and get out of the way.

 

“Is It True? Is It Necessary? Is It Kind?

 

Oh! Stay, dear child, one moment stay,

Before a word you speak,

That can do harm in any way

To the poor, or to the weak;

And never say of any one

What you’d not have said of you,

Ere you ask yourself the question,

“Is the accusation true?”

And if ’tis true, for I suppose

You would not tell a lie;

Before the failings you expose

Of friend or enemy:

Yet even then be careful, very;

Pause and your words well weigh,

 

And ask if it be necessary,

What you’re about to say.

And should it necessary be,

At least you deem it so,

Yet speak not unadvisedly

Of friend or even foe,

Till in your secret soul you seek

For some excuse to find;

 

And ere the thoughtless word you speak,

Ask yourself, “Is it kind?”

 

When you have ask’d these questions three—

True,—Necessary,—Kind,—

Ask’d them in all sincerity,

I think that you will find,

It is not hardship to obey

The command of our Blessed Lord,—

No ill of any man to say;

No, not a single word.