At the start of 2023, I began a process of Invisalign to realign my teeth.
After the first month — a period of acclimation to the new intrusion in my mouth — my orthodontist put bonded attachments on my teeth. The attachments create a leverage point that work with the Invisalign trays and help the teeth to move.
Adapting to the Uncomfortable
The attachments are like little buttons that sit on the teeth. They don’t feel natural at all; when I would remove the Invisalign to eat, my tongue would uncomfortably land on their rough edges.
The only good thing about them was that they encouraged me to wear the Invisalign trays as much as possible.
Not that this was much better. Wearing Invisalign feels unnatural. I am often self-conscious about how the trays over my teeth slurs my speech.
When I first started, a friend told me that she was sad when she finished her treatment. She missed her Invisalign. I couldn’t imagine this.
And yet, the body and nervous system are designed to adapt, as mine did.
The Patterns of Nature Play Out in Every Part of Life
This week I reached the end of phase one of my treatment.
My orthodontist removed the attachments and rescanned my mouth to prepare for phase two.
Everything in life plays out in a mirror to the seasons of nature.
In the cycle of my Invisalign journey, I had reached the end of the “summer” period: a long period of daily effort to move my teeth.
The visit to the orthodontist was the autumn: a brief moment of harvest and letting go, in which we recognized the shifts that have occurred and removed the attachments.
For the next month, until my new set of Invisalign trays comes in, I’m in maintenance mode, a winter of “emptiness” in which I need to wear my Invisalign for only 8 hours in the evening.
When the new trays arrive, I will begin a new “spring.”
Resistance to Change
The ability to go for most of the day without a foreign object in my mouth for the first time in months might seem like welcome news.
And yet, when my orthodontist told me this news, I experienced a brief moment of grief as the unthinkable happened: I realized I didn’t want to reduce the time I wear my Invisalign.
On one hand, this grief is a completely normal response to a transition.
I also immediately noticed my resistance to change — even a change that represents a positive step forward in my journey to aligned teeth.
Cue the obvious metaphor about “releasing attachments.”
The Irony of Human Attachment
One of the natures of being human is that we attach — to things, people, situations, life circumstances, ways of being. Ironically, we can even attach to things that are uncomfortable.
Humans crave the safety and security of the known. As a result, we often value the certainty of what we know over the uncertainty of the next thing.
The fear of the empty space can cause us to hold onto situations when they no longer serve us, and even when they are actively uncomfortable.
Once again, life was giving me an opportunity to practice.
Venus Conjunct the South Node: Continuing the Story of Release
It’s no coincidence that this phase of my Invisalign journey came between Monday’s full moon in Gemini and today’s conjunction of Venus with the South Node in Libra (12:16 pm ET).
Full moons are culminations — a peak that also represents a point of release.
The South Node is a point on the moon’s elliptic that is about shedding: releasing what no longer serves us.
Venus is the planet of relationships and union — aka attachments. It also represents what we desire.
Over the past several weeks, Mercury, Mars, and the Sun have all made this same conjunction to the South Node in Libra. Venus’ conjunction with the South Node represents a continuation of this story; it’s another reference point informing us about what we are being called to release.
The Practice of Releasing Attachments
As someone with their natal Sun in Taurus, one of my core strengths is my consistency and my ability to hold the ground in times of change. Fixed signs are the anchors that keep everything together.
For me, it’s very much part of my life’s work to practice letting go and embracing change.
Every part of life is impermanent. All parts of life move move in seasons and cycles — from the patterns in nature to the process of aligning teeth.
Growth Requires Letting Go
We may find comfort in what’s familiar, but attaching to it creates stagnation. To grow, we must be willing to let go of what no longer serves us — whether that’s a relationship, a job, an identity, a belief, a mindset, or even our tenacity to hold on at all costs.
Of course, our well-entrenched patterns don’t change overnight. That’s why life gives us numerous opportunities to practice.
Each time we realize we are holding on is another opportunity to practice letting go.
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...