Dear Reader,
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Welcome to the Equinox
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Yes, it is officially the first day of Autumn and the mark of equal dark and equal light. Equivalent. Equ is a wonderful Latin root. I’m drawn to Equality, Balance, and Equanimity.

I invite you to revel in the balance, noticing it in all the corners of your life. And celebrate.

How will you celebrate the beginning of this transition? And how will you prepare for all the transitions the Autumn Equinox presages?

Transitions are wonderful, but they require attention when you have a sensitive nervous system. Check out this clip from a masterclass on transitions, which will be our guiding light at the next Office Hours and TODAY at WEDNESDAY DROP-IN. You know, that little 10-minute Zoom I do every Wednesday?

Read on for a couple of lovely bits of prose about the Autumn Equinox AND a wonderful ritual for you (with or without the kids).
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Equal Dark, Equal Light

Here is a quote from a ritual to celebrate Mabon, or the Autumn Equinox:

A Ritual for Adults & Kids

If you would like to celebrate this transition with a ritual in your own life, this Equinox calls upon us to brainstorm, or even call out loud, anything that has hurt us, held us back, or kept us from being all that we could be.

We repeat these things until they no longer hold power for us. If you write them down, you might choose to burn, bury, or shred them.

You can also take a note from the Jewish High Holidays, as I always do. (If you celebrate them, you are already well engaged in this process, and I hope you will forgive my loose interpretation here.)

Get or bake a loaf of bread. Homemade is even better because it has your love and energy in it… I buy “homemade” organic from the bakery, lol.

Go to a place of moving water. Creeks and oceans are great, but also lakes (the water comes from somewhere and creeks flow from them). You can even use a water hose to create moving water. (This is a special Alane Hack.) If you use the hose, you might want to work fast to save water.

As you stand at the water, pinch off a small piece of bread, the size a fish or bird would like to eat, and imagine one of your regrets from the past year is attached to the bit of bread that you toss into the water.

Keep pinching and tossing bread until you have exhausted all of your regrets.

The water cleanses you of your regret, and as the bread disintegrates and nourishes the earth and her inhabitants, bits of you move into the full cycle of life.

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Compost Your Regrets

This is a process of composting.

I am a big composter. I compost all the horse manure on my property, as well as yard waste and kitchen scraps. It is rare that I fill up my trash can weekly because I reduce, reuse, recycle, and return the organic matter to the earth.

Every part of us is useful, even those bits that might end up in the garbage or recycling, or on bread swirling down the creek.

I invite you to compost your regrets.

They will turn into beautiful, rich fertilizer for your new life. It is your new life that is being germinated through the coming time of darkness.

So lean into the process. It is beautiful and cleansing.

If you are raising children, this is a great time to get them on board with composting the old and creating new.

There Is Change in the Air

I will close with this prose, slightly abridged, from Molly Remer:

Wishing you a balanced autumn,

Alane

​SAVE THESE DATES:​

Wednesday Drop-in with Alane
​September 23 & 30
9am Pacific | 10 minutes on Zoom
Parenting DROP-IN starts October 7th!
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​Wisdom and Wonder​
October 4, 9am Pacific | Noon Eastern | Online

October Office Hours
​October 6, 10am Pacific | 1pm Eastern | Online

Heart & Mind Equine: Self-Compassion with Horses
​September 26
9–10:30am Pacific | Woodacre, CA

NEW: Holistic Horse Training at Heart & Mind Equine
​October 10, 2026
9–10:30am Pacific | Woodacre, CA

Alane Freund, MS, MA​
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (Lic. #LMFT36077)
International Consultant on High Sensitivity
​P 415-203-6600 E alane@areyouhighlysensitive.com

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