Change is in the air!
In our highly technological environment today, it is easy to miss the natural cycle changes in nature. For regardless of nature’s obvious cycles, we have created a lifestyle that allows us to play and work without being aware of them.
Yet our bodies’ clocks still know deep down that a change of season means a change in us too. If we don’t acknowledge this, we may feel out of sync, a loss of our natural rhythm.
We can consciously celebrate the change of season and shift our own energy by setting some time aside to make the same changes we see in nature.
We can change colors like the falling leaves and wilting blooms by putting away our bright summer colors and filling our wardrobes and living areas with warm golds, reds, and browns. It’s fun re-discovering the warm colors of my winter outfits!
While plants concentrate their energy deep in their roots and seeds, we can retreat to quieter, indoor pursuits, nurturing the seeds of new endeavors. The urge to journal again shows up for me!
We can stoke our inner fires with our favorite hot drinks while savoring the rich, hot comfort foods that the season brings : potatoes, apple pies, pumpkins, squash. Yep, I’ve checked that I have the cinnamon sticks for the hot apple cider and the mini-marshmallows for my hot cocoa!
And bringing out our favorite sweaters, jackets and blankets we can, like the animals that begin growing their winter coats and preparing for hibernation, get in sync with the rhythm of nature and the universe. I’m looking forward to snuggling under my favorite afghans, including the one my sister made me!
We can usher in the next season in a way that allows us
- to go with the flow,
- moving forward, and
- preparing for our future.
What do you do as this season changes?
Do you have any favorite:
Rituals?
Foods?
Activities?
(It’s certainly is a beautiful fall season here in the Walla Walla Valley!)
2 Comments
For starters, I slow down. Not that I’m particularly speedy at other times, but still….
Then I hang up the Fall quilts. This year that will happen today – due to the move I’m getting a really late start. Somehow seeing the scarecrow quilt, the silly black cat, the pumpkins all up on the wall…well, it just makes me smile to be part of the Autumn scene.
Of course, heating up some cinnamon/orange water on the stove makes the place smell wonderful. Quite a change of pace from all the sunny smell of ‘green’ for spring and summer.
Oh, yes, and naps. Love those!
Wellllll—I close the vents around the the house, have the oil in the car changed, more hot food including hot sauce, I used to hunt back east, and to keep hands and feet warm, I learned to put red pepper(capsicum) inside my gloves and boots. Hot coffee hits the spot in the morning.
Winter to me is like a holding pattern—“till I can land this plane.”
See ya’ in church, Pat.