I have always loved the changing of the seasons. Each transition during the year ushers in a new mood, new sights, sounds, tastes, and scents, and a shift in our own growing and learning process.

For me, spring is when it starts. That is the time you plant those seeds, deciding what attributes to cultivate during the coming months. Summer is the active time of choosing to bring those qualities to life. This brings us to fall, the time to reflect on the light time of the year and what it has gifted us with. In winter we rest and nest, preparing to do it all again.

Autumn says to us to take a break and to look back on the proceeding months with gratitude, just as people celebrated food harvests since practically the dawn of time, we can take this season to examine our own personal harvests and be thankful for what summer has sprouted.

For some, this may mean a celebration of goals achieved and accomplishments made, for others it may be time to admit the plan isn’t working. Fall is a time of balance, when light and dark share the spotlight equally. It calls to us to slow down, to appreciate and to prepare for the darker months to come.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the world becomes positively awesome and gorgeous as summer slips away and fall beckons us to join her. How can one not feel gratitude as the landscape comes alive with color and the oppressive heat gives way to crisp breezes? The urge to settle in and find joy in richer colors, grounding foods, and simpler pleasures is natural and quite hard to resist. We’d burn out living at a summer pace all year long and fall offers us a chance to breathe and reflect.

It seems perfect that I am ending this summer coming back from a family vacation and wedding. I feel drawn to this autumnal call that urges me to evaluate and give thanks for the blessings of the summer light. If spring and summer are the extroverts of the year, fall and winter are the introverts.

I didn’t come online during my journey away, choosing to truly use that time to go inside instead of staying in the game here in the cyber world. The break from it was revealing and deeply meaningful as I used that time to plan for the shorter days ahead. It was a time to see what my efforts so far this year have produced and to understand the natural changes in energy that the end of the year brings.

Experiencing the change of seasons this way makes me feel a part of it all, joined to the earth as it cycles through changes, changing along with it. It feels organic to align with what is around me. It appeals to my heart of hearts to burst with appreciation and wonder with each falling leaf and brisk wind. It soothes me to know it is a homey time, one to be enjoyed with those we love, one to savor and use to center our hearts and minds before the mad rush of spring sweeps us in her arms again and takes us on the more energetic path to growing in the sun’s rays once more.

I invite you to join me, to pause and reflect, to prepare for the quiet time to come, to honor nature and her ways. I encourage you to use this time in a way that feels right for you whether it is a walk in nature, baking bread with someone you love, changing the colors you decorate with to richer, warmer ones or finding an autumn ritual that is meaningful to you.

Here are a few ways I will be welcoming autumn:

Eating seasonally

Creating my home as a haven

Sharing appreciation with those I love

Honoring my need to slow down

Finding a balance in the union of light and dark

Adjusting my schedule to allow for less doing and more being

Experiencing gratitude

Accepting change

One of my favorite fall quotes is by Samuel Butler who wrote:

Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes.  Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.

Slow down….breathe…and enjoy your own harvest.

Thoughts to ponder: Does the end of summer have meaning to you? Do you experience a sense of loss or gratitude as the days get shorter? Are you aligned with nature and do you allow its magic to help and guide you?

(photo credit)

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