You Don't Need Balance. You Need Honesty.

ahhtherapy ~newsletter ~September 2026

Living Better. Living well. It begins with the exhale ~"Ahh"

I don't think we actually want perfect balance

All week, one thought has kept coming back to me. It's this: we don't really crave perfect balance, not the way we think we do.

I know that sounds strange coming from someone who's all about creating balance in my own life and in the lives of those I work with, but let me explain...

We fall madly in love, and when you're madly in love, life doesn't feel balanced at all. It feels tilted, all the way toward one person, one feeling, one future you can suddenly see. Colors are brighter, food tastes better, happiness feels fuller.

Yet, when we're grieving, we don't laugh as much. It's hard to find the joy, and nothing seems to comfort us.

That's not a flaw in the system. That's the system doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

This is how life is designed. It's what makes the lessons real...

And thus, there are seasons for working hard, pushing, building. And there are seasons for doing very little, for simply letting yourself rest in the pleasure of being alive, without needing to justify it with productivity.

All of it builds us. Enriches us. Even the parts that aren't even. In fact, especially those parts.

Where Is the Pendulum Right Now?

So I've stopped believing balance means walking with ease, keeping steady on a tightrope. I think balance is something more subtle than that. I think it's about knowing where the "pendulum" is right now, and not judging it, just noticing it.

Where is it leaning for you, today, in this actual season of your actual life?

Where might a little more balance open something up : not perfect balance, just a little give? Where have you been pouring and pouring without letting anything pour back into you? Where are you working past the point of usefulness, telling yourself it's almost done, it's almost done, when some part of you already knows it's not almost anything?

I think this is especially important for those of us who are naturally wired to care for other people. We notice what everyone else needs. We step in. We hold space. We make sure everyone is okay. And sometimes we don’t even realize how far the pendulum has swung toward giving until we’re exhausted, resentful, or simply empty.

Receiving is part of balance too.

Letting yourself be supported, nourished, helped, or cared for can be its own kind of returning.

Every year around this time, I ask myself these questions, and every year the answers come back a little differently, which always tells me something too.

Balance isn't a destination. It's not a thing you arrive at once and keep. It's a relationship you keep having with yourself, moment to moment, day to day, season to season.

The Earth Pauses Here Too

This week seems to bring these sentiments closer to the surface, as the Earth herself shows us what it means to pause in balance before letting go. Day and night meeting as equals, for one long breath, before the slow tilt toward darker months begins. That beautiful moment is Mabon -the Autumn Equinox- and this year, it lands on September 22nd...

It is almost unbearably tender, every single time, every single year. We're here, standing in the in-between. The sun is still warm enough on our skin to leave its mark, reminding us we haven't fully left summer. And winter is still far enough away that we can't quite feel its edges either. Only the evenings are arriving early enough for us to truly notice the change…

One hand in summer, the other already reaching for fall.

I don't think this in-between place gets nearly enough attention. We rush from season to season, chasing whatever's next, and we skip right past the threshold itself ; the part where both things are true at once. One hand in summer, the other already reaching for fall.

Maybe that’s part of what makes this season feel so sacred to me. There is no pressure here to have fully arrived anywhere. We are allowed to be between things. Between seasons. Between decisions. Between versions of ourselves.

We can be grateful for what has been and still feel ready for something different. We can miss one chapter while knowing it may be time to turn the page. Sometimes balance is simply allowing two truths to exist at once.

Maybe It Isn't Balance. Maybe It's Recalibration.

And maybe autumn isn’t really asking us to find perfect balance after all. Maybe it is asking us to recalibrate. To make a few small adjustments. To listen a little more closely. To notice what has become too much, what has quietly become too little, and what might need to shift before we move into the more inward months ahead.

This week, just notice where you're standing. There's no need to fix it, no need to force a perfect balance into place by Tuesday. Simply notice.

Where is the pendulum swinging?

Are you giving more than you're receiving? Working more than you're resting? Speaking more than you're listening? Or maybe it's the opposite, and you've gone quiet in a way that just isn't serving you anymore?

There's no wrong answer here. There's just honesty. Honesty with yourself. Because honesty is always the beginning of something real. Something with merit, with meaning…

A Place to Sit With These Questions Together

This week, I've been preparing something for September 22nd… A way for us to sit with these questions together, instead of carrying them alone.

If you’re a sensitive soul, you may know this feeling deeply: everything around you asking for more while something inside you is quietly asking to slow down. Mabon meets us in that space. Light and dark come into balance,reminding us that rest is just as much a part of the cycle as growth.

I’m holding an Autumn Equinox circle this night. An evening woven with a harvest ceremony, intuition practice, grounding meditation, creating apple garlands, an abundance attunement, and balancing breathwork .Together, we’ll make space for gratitude, name what this season has given us, and gently let go of what feels complete.

We’ll create a shared altar, pass warm Mabon tea, and honor the sweetness, lessons, and abundance that have carried us to this threshold.

Every circle still surprises me as shaped entirely by who walks in and what they're ready to release and expand into..

If your intuition is nudging you toward this space, trust it. I'd love to hold this circle with you.

But, for now, just sit with the pendulum.

Let it swing a little. Watch where it wants to land.

I'll be thinking of you as the light begins its slow turning ~ softer now, more golden, more forgiving. There's an old wisdom in this particular light. It doesn't ask you to change or grow. It only asks that you notice it, and let yourself be witnessed by it, even for a moment.

In light and love,
​Shana

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