This Season

Yesterday I proclaimed that this fall has been my favorite fall out of all the falls I have ever fallen into. This season is really effecting me more than I have ever noticed before! The look and feel of it, and also the subtle energy it holds. I haven't been able to find the write words to describe it completely, I'm still searching for them, but maybe over the course of this post, I will be able to find them. It's been important to me to recognize this season and appreciate it, and describing it helps me to do that. What's felt different this fall is partly, the absence of anxiousness.

In previous falls I had been more focused on what was ahead of me and things I had to accomplish. I had felt an unpreparedness due to the sweetness of summer ending so fast and the beginning of schedules, expectations, and deadlines. My relationship with the ultimate frenemy- procrastination- had picked right back up where we had left off. I had felt wary of winter weather and lack of sun, my tan fading, missing the beach. Ugh. Overall- I had felt somewhat unsettled. The energy of fall moves inward. It causes you to reflect and go deeper into yourself. I guess, in previous years that energy intimidated me. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is a time of letting go- physically, mentally, and spiritually. This year, may be one of the first that I have been able to do that more confidently and naturally. This season has, just as in years before, been a season of starting something new. Early in September, my friend and I started an Ayurvedic Healing course and so far it has helped us tremendously in knowing the human body, and knowing ourselves- every physical, mental, and spiritual aspect. I'm sure that what I have been immersed in this fall has helped me to more clearly realize the beauty and necessity that exists this time of year. 

Our culture, and many others define fall as a harvest time. There are so many feelings and images that come up when I think of the word harvest. Naturally, I imagine crops, farms, pumpkins, apples, and scarecrows. I feel warm, bundled, cozy, quiet, happy, and "glow-y". All the holiday feelings with family around and plenty of food. I like that this time of year is also a time for gratitude and generosity. I believe that people are generally good, and that we all want to be kind and share what we have with others. That's how life is created and sustained. I think fall, by it's energy flowing inward and stirring up what you bring to the world, prompts the actions of first thanksgiving and then giving. Civilizations for centuries knew, and felt this, hence the celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Much like nature, we as human beings respond to the energy that each season brings. We grow, expand, contract, and descend just like plants. Recognizing and understanding this has a harmonious effect on us. 

So this fall, my favorite so far, has allowed me to take in what has been around me, and what has always been a part of me, but has gone unrecognized and therefore unappreciated. The images and feelings that I have enjoyed and embraced since childhood, are actually in me and everyone around me.  So to anyone else reading this, I hope you can relate and let the breath of fall move in, so you can harvest your gifts and share them with others. 

Side Note: Do go out and collect the brightest and most striking leaves that are now changing so fast! 

Love,

Cassie