Not only does March carry the number 3, but yesterday we also had a full moon on the 3rd of March. Writing about the number 3 arose from an earlier title: From inner conflict to greater harmony. I am choosing to write this after leading an online meditation yesterday evening titled: I Am My Radiant Essence.

In that meditation, we gently released protective layers that had once served us well. As we grow, certain forms of control or protection naturally soften and make space for fuller expression. When we allow this softening, our potential expands and our essence expresses itself more freely.

After building heart capacity and compassion over at least three previous sessions with some of the same people in our online sangha, I trust that fertile ground was prepared for new heart-seeds to flourish into joyful expression.

When we were in Australia, we encountered Aboriginal art, rich with dots. Later in my life, I noticed white dots painted on the faces of women here in South Africa on certain occasions. When the Heartcoach Heart symbol was designed, there was clear guidance to include three dots and seven dots.

For me, the number 3 represents harmony and expression.

When two forces meet, there is energy. With awareness, that energy becomes creative movement. Inner conflict, when listened to, invites transformation. Sound that once feels scratchy and contracted can open into resonance and flow, becoming pleasant to the ear and easeful in the body.

Active and passive find balance through the neutral presence that allows movement again. This creates harmony without anyone feeling diminished. Both forces attune to one another.

In Buddhist terms, a wheel that turns with ease reflects Sukkha — liberated joy. A wheel that struggles invites attention and care. Dukkha describes that experience of friction, while Sukkha reflects the ease that comes with freedom. The number 3 supports this shift in perspective. Open awareness creates space for creative solutions — for win-win outcomes rooted in flexibility rather than rigidity.

Years ago, I attended a workshop with Genpo Roshi titled Big Heart, Big Mind. In the preface of his book, he writes:

“We would like to be able to communicate and empathize more fully in our relationships. We want our children and family and ourselves to reach our fullest potential, to be happier and more joyful in this life.”

He offers triads such as:

• small self – non-dual – Big Mind
• fear – no-fear – true self (beyond both)

In Buddhism, three is foundational for practice and philosophy. It represents the stability that supports awakening. Buddhists take refuge in:

• The Buddha (the awakened teacher)
• The Dharma (the teachings)
• The Sangha (the community)

The Three Marks of Existence describe the core realizations about reality:
Anicca (impermanence), Dukkha (the human experience of suffering), and Anatta (non-self).

I connect with the number 3 in simple, living ways.

At night, my attention often rests on three stars above our house. For me, they represent a family that supports one another — three sisters.

In the morning, during my movement practice, I connect with sky, earth, and my own heart. In some cultures this triad is expressed as father, mother, and child.

I connect with the number 3 in the octave of consciousness — SA RE GA (my will), GA MA PA (thy will), PA DHA NI (that will).

I also see the pattern of three within the Enneagram. The triads 1-4-7, 3-6-9, and 2-5-8 move within a circle that represents wholeness. Harmonizing and attuning allows us to access our full potential with flexibility and fluidity.

For me, this movement toward harmony is what “growing up” means.

As Pema Chodron writes so beautifully:

“There’s a life-affirming teaching in Buddhism, which is that Buddha, which means ‘awake’, is not someone you worship. Buddha is not someone you aspire to. Buddha is not somebody that was born more than two thousand years ago and was smarter than you’ll ever be.
Buddha is our inherent nature — our buddha nature — and what that means is that if you’re going to grow up fully, the way that it happens is that you begin to connect with the intelligence that you already have.
It’s not like there’s some intelligence that’s going to be transplanted into you. If you’re going to be fully mature, you will no longer be imprisoned in the childhood feeling that you always need to protect yourself because things are too harsh.
If you’re going to be a grown up — which I would define as being completely at home in your world no matter how difficult the situation — it’s because you allow something that’s already in you to be nurtured. You allow it to grow, you call it forward, instead of keeping it buried.”

In alignment with these words:

May old protections gently fall away.
May the body soften and the mind quieten so that your essence shines more fully.
May order and harmony restore themselves — within and around.
May you feel composed in this new harmonic way, allowing your true radiant essence and potential to express themselves freely.

with warmth, Be

My Music choice that was part of this: All I am…If you look in my heart you will find that I am someone who loves you that’s all I am.  

Creative collage on pinterest: