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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fall Orange and Independence of Comparison

Everywhere I look today I see the color orange. The only flowers that are really left are orange calendula and orange sunflowers. This color seems reflected in all the changing leaves. It seems in my part of the world, each fall there is a predominance of one of the three leaf changing colors: yellow, orange, or red, and this year it is orange.  I think there is a scientific explanation for this that has something to do with the type of summer and fall weather we experience.  A combination of temperature and moisture levels apparently contribute to the colors.  I'm sure that's true, but I have come to decide that sometimes there are greater lessons to be learned if you take science out of the equation.

The color orange resonates with the second chakra. This chakra is all about lessons of independence. http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.com/2010/12/chakra-foods-for-sacral-chakra.html It is at this stage in our development that we realize who we are, apart from those people and influences around us. This development sometimes occurs around the age range of 8 to 14.  It can often be in these teenage years that we gain a greater awareness of self. This chakra is linked to creativity, vitality, and sensuality.  We start to experience all our senses in an opened and aware way when this chakra is balanced.

When the sacral or second chakra is unbalanced we can become pretty confused about who we really are and what our place is in the grand scheme of things. We can get mixed up between what we really want, like and feel and what others like, want and feel. We start to do that "herding" thing again and can't sort out what thoughts are ours, and what are the thoughts, dreams and desires of the herd we are in. Our creativity gets squashed a bit because we are so busy comparing ourselves to those around us.

If you consider  the Aries full moon, the presence of the owls http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.com/2011/10/full-moon-in-aries-owl-signs.html and the orange colors of fall, it is as though the universe is screaming independence.  And even if you don't live in a part of the world where the leaves are changing to orange colors, I bet right about now you are seeing real and fake orange pumpkins all over the place.  The colors of October, thanksgiving and Halloween, are orange in all shades and flavors.

We spend a lot of time trying to be globally connected. The world has opened up and we are aware of the lives and conditions of people and cultures that would never have entered our consciousness a few years ago. But that connectivity should not be confused with comparison in my opinion.

We do a lot of comparison that leads to internal imbalance. It seems we compare our feelings and situations with others almost constantly.  The media helps us continually compare.  We watch weather patterns in different parts of the world or country and compare it to our own. We either feel lucky or disappointed by what we see. We compare body shapes, financial status, job satisfaction, and lifestyles.  Although we talk about "finding a balance", most of the time we aren't really happy to be in the middle.  We want to be on one extreme or the other and I'm not sure it really matters which end we're on.  We say we appreciate it when our weather is moderate and we are facing the extremes of heat, flooding, or snowfall.  But we seem to be a bit proud when our own weather makes the news for it's extreme effects.  We think that makes us hardy somehow, survivors. In comparison, we must be tougher, more resilient.

We do the same thing with our emotions. We say we are looking for peace and contentment and yet we do a lot of time comparing how we feel. We talk to others about how difficult our lives our, how lonely we feel, how sad or depressed we might be. We spend perhaps equal amounts of time discussing how happy we are, our fortunate our situation is, how easy we have it. If we run out of others to compare situations with, we compare how we feel now to how we felt 20 years ago, or how we think we might feel 10 years from now!

Perhaps achieving independence and a balanced chakra occurs when we stop thinking and comparing and just feel. If we could just be where we are and put our awareness to it without judging our feelings we might find more energy, vitality and creativity.  Maybe we could be fueled by our own emotions rather than trying to contain them into something that fits with a world view we hold at this point in time, a point of comparison. Maybe if we didn't keep fueling our emotions with our comparative thoughts, we could get out of swings and extremes and find ourselves peacefully in the middle. Maybe, just maybe, if we could get to that point of equilibrium, if we separated ourselves from the energy of others, and listened to our inner selves, we could find peace in that harmonious place of self. True self. Independent self.

Maybe fall is about letting go of the comparisons we have been making.  Maybe it's about sloughing off those things, standards, goals and aspirations that aren't really your own in the first place.  Maybe fall, the Aries Moon, and the Owl are suggesting it's time to go within and discover who you really are and what you really want to be. 

If you want to find our more about the second chakra, foods to soothe, and Bach flowers to balance, order a  copy of the Sweet Shack & Bach Bar http://pixiedusthealing.blogspot.com/2011/08/christmas-in-august-pre-order-my-book.html You can compare yourself to the characters in there... or not! But nothing really rhymes with the word "orange", and nothing really compares with the "real you".  Shed the comparisons and cherish your independence. Enjoy your colors.

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