The March 19th, 1945 edition of Life magazine contains an article written by Annalee Jacoby titled “Eggs stand on end in Chungking: The mystery of the upright eggs dissolves war tension in China.” In the article, Jacoby tells the story of several Chinese individuals competitively balancing eggs on the spring equinox. According to Chinese legends, for an hour before and after the seasons change on Li Chun (Spring Begins), it becomes possible to balance things that would otherwise not be possible. In the city of Chungking (now rendered into English as Chongqing) inhabitants balanced eggs on Li Chun. The celebration of Li Chun in 1945 happened to draw the attention of a journalist with the United Press. His story was published in many English-language newspapers. Apparently, Albert Einstein read the story and doubted its truthfulness. A series of egg-standings with witnesses followed in Chongqing to prove it was done without trickery. And there was no trickery. With the right egg and surface, you can stand an egg any day of the year.
While the spring equinox does not bring about a perfect balance in gravity, it does bring other kinds of balance. Daytime and nighttime are balanced. The time of each is roughly equal, and this is true no matter where you are on the planet. The path of the sun is also in balance. The sun rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west; the two equinoxes are the only days this happens. The seasons are also balanced. At both equinoxes, we are perched midway between winter and summer.
This time of celestial and seasonal balance is a perfect time for us to assess the balance in our own lives. What better time to be in balance than when the earth is too? And we will share the experience of balance on the equinox with humanity. All of us will have the same experience of day and night for that one day. Where are you in balance? How did you achieve and maintain it? Where might you be out of balance? What can you let go of to achieve greater balance? Are you in a liminal state, midway between two things, and need to make a choice? Are you overcompensating to correct an imbalance?
I often struggle with bringing balance to my personal and professional lives. I have been a student and apprentice for a good portion of my adulthood pursuing careers that require advanced degrees and have demanding expectations. Both careers also contain a high degree of self-scheduling. I am not always good at keeping tasks confined to certain days and times. I have regularly allowed work to seep into all days of the week and limit time for things other than work. While there are times I crave greater balance, for me, it is easier to say than to do. I suspect I am not alone in this. Our culture values “doing” and professional accomplishment and it is a powerful narrative for many of us. Nonetheless, while challenging for me, I still strive to create greater balance.
With this on my mind, I found better balance this past weekend. I spent meaningful time with my wife, myself, and with friends. It reminded me that finding better balance is not “magic.” It’s not magical any more than balancing an egg is. Balance does not require you to sit by and wait for an equinox or perfect date on the calendar to come along. Balance in life, like balancing an egg, can be achieved any day of the year. What balance does require is intention and the commitment to follow through on that intention. Balancing an egg is not always easy, but it can occur any time. Adding greater balance to our lives may not always be simple either; things may come forward to demand our attention, perhaps making it seem easier to put our attempts at balance aside for another time. But the rewards we receive from the balance make the intention and follow-through worth it. May the equinox remind us all to strive for greater balance in our own lives. Not even Einstein would be skeptical of its usefulness.
Joel