This one might meander a bit, with lots of short ideas making one (hopefully) cohesive picture.

I’ve never been a “sign” guy, regardless of the context of the word. I’ve never asked God for a sign that He’s real, to tell me where I should go or what I should do. I’ve also never cared what my astrological sign is – I know it’s Libra but I have no idea what a Libra is, what that tells you about me, what sign I’m compatible with or what my lucky numbers are.

Until today, that is.

You see, I was talking with my sister this morning. (I’m about to overshare and that’s ok, she doesn’t read this as far as I can tell. That’s ironic because I heard once that every person who writes, writes with 1 reader in mind and she is my person. Ha!) We first get talking about my propensity to preemptively drop out on my daily routine in preparation for upcoming heavy responsibilities. She praised me a little for my wise steps towards balance in my life. I relayed that every year I choose a focus word for the upcoming 12 months and mine is usually “release” or, like this year, “balance.”

Now. Today is the 1st day of the Libra sign (we are both Libras) and she had a special yoga session where the teacher spoke about the equinox and balance. Apparently, the picture of Libra is one of scales and is concerned with the concept of balance!

Balance has always been an issue for us, internally as well as externally. Then we accidentally stepped into the garbage pile of our unhealthy body images. We’d each like to change whatever about our own, but the truth is that we’d much prefer to change how much it matters. We’re out of balance, the scales tipping towards a number on a different scale or the nasty voices in our heads.

I’m still not a “sign” guy, but this is awfully interesting, right?

Our minds want to stay the same, which is why we fight new habits and change in any form, why we stay stuck in ruts or in relationships that are unfulfilling at best, abusive at worst. It’s hard to learn new tricks. Our self-images are skewed and grounded in fictional stories born from lots of places, none of them kind, caring and anywhere close to love. No matter how old we get, what we read or listen to, how many hours we spend trying to unring that bell, we end up back at the same dead end.

I know truth is truth wherever it’s found and am never surprised when the things we hear on the news or on the phone with my sister make me think of the Bible or Jesus. Instead I think, of course! Romans 12 says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need NEW minds because the old ones are based on faulty premises.

The old leans toward negativity, self-loathing, and destruction. No matter how far we get from this junk, all it takes is one mis-step for the voices to begin, causing the scales to tilt violently.

Maybe balance is no more and no less than remembering who we actually are, remembering the new mind, remembering what is true. And maybe my sign has to be scales to remind me that who I am has absolutely nothing to do with a digital readout on a glass pad in my bathroom.