Fall Equinox Audit: How to Reassess Your Time, Energy, and Receiving

Read Time: 4 min / Listen on the Podcast

Fall is finally here!

I absolutely love this time of year. I get to layer my clothes with cute jackets. I get to enjoy yummy seasonal pumpkin treats. Halloween decorations. Dressing up! The trees changing colors! My birthday is in the fall 🥳

The fall season just brings me so much joy.

And I’m also a sucker for an equinox.

We only get two a year, did you know that? An equinox is when we get an exact amount of daytime and nighttime. A moment of perfect balance. How cool is that?

Unlike the spring equinox, where the days are getting longer and the world is tilting into more light, the fall equinox is the opposite. The days are getting shorter. We are getting ready for hibernation in the winter, which is why I like to look at the fall as a time of reflection and reassessment.

The Final Quarter of 2026

I can’t even believe it as I write it. I feel like I say this every year, but I also really mean it every time I say it, lol. But it feels like I blinked and 2026 passed me by 😱

There’s a part of me that had to pause and look back and think — what have I done this year? What changed? What was I able to accomplish? What detours did I take? Time has gone so fast; I feel like I found myself struggling to recall the earlier parts of this year. And I know I can’t be the only one!

So I see this fall equinox as a great time to sit down and see what the bounty of spring has brought you. To assess what’s working and what’s not. To ask the harder question: have the choices I’ve been making been in alignment with what I say I value?

Reflection vs Consumption

Time for reflection is so important. And it’s something I’ve been thinking about more and more. Giving myself more space in my life so that I can reflect and digest all the things that are unfolding, all the things that I am learning, the things I want to change, the new things I want to implement.

We live in such a consumer culture that we’ve become satisfied with the mere consumption. And we don’t notice the lack of implementation or embodiment, because those two things require us to slow down. And we know our culture does not highly value stillness.

So the invitation to reflect can start to sound like just another thing to add to the list. Read the book. Take the course. Journal about the takeaway. Move on.

But reflection isn’t consumption. Reflection is what happens after you stop taking in. It’s the space where the thing you consumed either becomes a part of you or evaporates. And most of us aren’t leaving room for it.

Auditing Your Most Valuable Resource

Recently I sat down to do my own version of this. I wanted to figure out how I was going to allocate my time for the last quarter of the year. And figure out how to stay in my values while still executing on some of the goals I have.

Really, what it came down to was simplifying. Letting go of some of the ideas or projects I wanted to do. Getting honest about the time I actually have. When I do these reflections, I like to look up the astrology, see what energy we’re working with as a collective.

Right now we’re moving into Libra season. And Libra is all about harmony, balance, collaboration. However, its shadows are things like: seeking externally for approval, people-pleasing habits, over-accommodating, and avoiding hard conversations to keep the peace.

So I got real honest with myself on where I might be overgiving, helping friends when I really don’t have the time to be helping. It’s easy to want to help people with their stuff instead of figuring out your own (I’m a recovering rescuer).

My audit was really about looking at the time that’s left in the year. I literally printed out calendars for October, November, and December and looked at them simultaneously. And when I saw it on paper, between the holidays and traveling, there really wasn’t a lot of time left for me.

It forced me to get really clear about two or three projects that I’m focusing on. And that’s it (which is hard because I’m someone who loves to be busy and do 5,000 things at the same time).

• What are my big goals? And is the way I’m organizing my life and my resources right now actually in alignment with these goals?
  
  

What’s Your Relationship with Receiving?

Years ago I had a really pivotal moment with a Reiki master. I’d been busting my booty on my business, at least a decade in of spiritual work I’d done on myself, and I was starting to get really frustrated about where I was. I felt like I was working really hard but not seeing the rewards. I remember thinking, “I’ve done so much work to heal my money wounds, I’ve done the work on my nervous system... where the heck are the rewards?”

At the end of the session, she brought me tea and told me: “You made me go through like a hundred different security doors before you let me in. And I had to keep reminding your higher self that you wanted this. You came to me.”

Then she said something that’s burned in my brain forever.

“I can see how hard you’ve been working. You’ve been doing all the things. Doing, doing, doing. But you’re missing the other half of the equation. Receiving. You haven’t learned how to properly receive. And I can see why — it doesn’t feel safe to receive. It’s vulnerable to have your arms and your hands open. But that’s why the Universe hasn’t been able to bring you the things you’re trying to manifest. Your doors are closed. Your hands are not open.”

And while I felt a little attacked, haha, she was right. I couldn’t even let a friend pay for my lunch without keeping tabs on how I’d have to pay them back. I was constantly keeping tabs on favors friends had done for me because I didn’t want to ever ask for too much.

Why was I like this? Well, growing up, help had always come with hidden conditions. When I thought someone was helping me from the goodness of their heart, I was rudely mistaken. Because they would come back around when I least expected it, ready to collect on the “debt” I had owed them. So my little nervous system learned it’s not safe to receive. It’s better to do it on your own. It’s better not to ask for help.

So I want to ask you: what is your relationship with giving and receiving? Are you more comfortable being the giver or the receiver?

If I had to guess, I’d venture you’re probably more comfortable being the one to give. Because there’s more safety in that seat. More control. The receiver seat is the one where you have to battle guilt, unworthiness, fear about whether this is going to bite you in the butt later, or how you’ll be perceived for asking.

The Libra shadow I’d invite you to look at during your audit is over-giving. Where are you overextending? This one can be tricky because it hides behind costumes like “generosity” or being a “good friend.”

Some things in your life have expired

In the Fall season, trees shed their leaves. What in your life needs to be shed? What has reached its expiration date?

Perhaps it’s certain relationships, job opportunities, or agreements you made with yourself years ago that no longer fit who you are becoming. Are there “goals” you’ve been dragging around for months without even asking if they’re still in alignment?

This reminds me of when I would go to my parents’ house and need salad dressing, only to find that all the salad dressings are expired along with a ton of other random things in the pantry. LOL. Does anyone else have parents like this? Is this a common parent thing?

My point is… you need to go through your own refrigerator and pantry and throw out the sh*t that is no longer good and will only poison you.

Your Fall Audit

So for today, I wanted to leave you with some prompts to journal on. Or maybe they can serve as excellent discussion points to talk through with your bestie.

1. Looking back at 2026 so far…what has actually grown from what I planted at the beginning of the year?

2. Where in my life have I been consuming instead of implementing? What have I taken in that I haven’t yet let become a part of me?

3. Libra Shadows: Where am I over-giving right now? Whose approval am I chasing? What conversation am I avoiding to keep the peace?

4. What’s my actual relationship with receiving? When someone offers to help me, what happens in my body? When someone gives me a compliment, what do I do with it?

5. What in my life has quietly expired that I’ve been keeping in the pantry anyway? A relationship, a project, an old agreement, a procrastinated goal?

6. Looking at October, November, and December…what are the two or three things I want to focus on?

I’d love to hear what this brings up for you. Leave a comment!

For now…print your calendar, do a few journal prompts, and throw something out of the pantry 🙂