Autumn’s Call: Let it Fall

Autumn catches our attention by dressing up and then undressing. Summer’s leaf-green robes turn an array of flamboyant colors and then slowly fall away, revealing the shoulder of a branch here and the torso of a trunk there until much of the landscape is bare.  Nature provides us with quite a show as trees and plants shed their bright leaves, freeing themselves of what is no longer necessary.

As a keen observer of Nature, I deeply appreciate the qualities of each season. Autumn, it appears, celebrates the shedding of the old…. and we are all invited to the party! Imagine your invitation fluttering down into your hands, scripted upon a golden leaf:

‘Tis the Season to Let Go

Color what no longer serves you with gratitude

and let it fall away 

Grateful, Grateful, Grateful, Gone…

RSVP “Yes” and lighten up! Living with what you no longer want or need is heavy, cumbersome, and blocks the flow of vital energy that nurtures your life. Autumn encourages you to be like a tree and shed the possessions, relationships, attitudes, and habits that don’t serve you now. In doing so, you align with the essence of Fall and prepare your inner and outer space to receive Winter’s gifts of stillness, introspection, and the inception of new dreams.

Contemplative Practice: Stand or sit near a deciduous tree whose leaves are changing color. Choose a fallen leaf, feel its lightness, and observe its colors. How does the leaf symbolize a person, place, object, or way of being that has passed – or is passing – out of your life? What can you do now to honor and celebrate it? Have you, with gratitude, let it go? If you haven’t let it go yet, how can you do so now? Consider jotting down your thoughts in a journal and pressing the leaf between the pages…..