“ There is something particularly special and personal about the circle and how its curves comfortably rule every aspect of our lives.”
~ Kat Lahr
Do you ever look at life like a set of circles?
The moon orbits around the earth. The earth orbits around the sun. Take a look at your own life and you will see any number of concentric circles following their own orbital path.
From the time you arrive naked and wiggling to the day you are finally put to rest, much of your life is done in cycles.
You circle around to the tea pot or the coffee maker every morning. You have a date with your pillow every night.
Your weekly ritual could include a trip to the farmers market, a movement class, or dance event. (My Mondays have a date with this newsletter! And Saturday evenings find me spinning records for my friends online without fail.)
Monthly cycles are for things like paying the bills or tallying up your budget. 13 times a year the full moon makes its circuit, guiding everything from the tides in the ocean to the inner workings of your body.
And just like clockwork, your birthday rolls around every 365 days without fail. Solar cycles are the big checkmarks on the whiteboard of life, and for some odd reason the more of them that pass the faster they seem to go.
If you are tuned in to the planetary cycles of our solar system you’ll note the less-than-annual cycles such as Mercury, which happens to be retrograde again as we speak, or the longer ones such as Saturn that swing back around every seven years.
This all must have something to do with the importance we place on once-in-a-lifetime events. The one-off moments like graduating from high school or getting your tonsils taken out are like milestones on a timeline never to be seen again.
This is why cultivating healthy habits is so important. Make a practice of claiming an hour a day to chip away at your symphony, screenplay, or epic novel and you’re far more likely to make it to the finish line. Creative work likes a steady routine, the muse isn’t going to show up just because you happen to be in the mood.
These thoughts about circles and cycles occurred to me as I was doing my annual ritual of lopping off the seed pods from the giant Russian thistle that’s invading the neighborhood.
I started cutting and gathering the seed pods three years ago in hopes of limiting its spread. I’m still at it, although I feel like I must have had some success or there would be far more of it each year. Just a few grocery sacks worth this time around, hopefully less next year!
Tend to your circles and cycles with the love and attention they require. Be they big or small, they nest upon each other to make you who you are. Life keeps on coming as fast as it goes!
Much love and happy practicing until next week!
M+
Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine
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