Season of Change

Fall is the time for shedding. Slithering out of old skins and stepping into the unknown with a fresh lightness. Our bodies follow the rhythm of the seasons and the flux of time. Akin to the trees, we too need to shed our summer leaves. When autumn arrives, she brings with her a message of reflection and release. She reminds us to take an inventory of ourselves, assess the harvest of the recent year, and till the soil to prepare for new growth.

Self transformation is its own kind of death, bringing with it grief, mourning, and a sense of loss—that is okay. It can be painful to say goodbye to familiar ways of being, even if those ways are no longer helpful. Rather than looking at the snakeskins of self  growth with disdain or disgust, allow yourself to give thanks for how they have aided you in being where you are now. Find the wisdom in the past, composting the trimmed edges of your selfhood. Replant these lessons into the choices you make in the present, and continue spiraling onwards and outwards on this journey of being. Remember, the Universe is in perpetual expansion—and thus, so are we.

Practice: Find a moment where you can be alone and reflect on how you are feeling in your life. Are there things you are proud of in yourself? Are there things about yourself you no longer identify with? Create a list of the ways you have grown and changed over the last year. What has helped this process? Is there anything that has hindered it? What could you gain by giving up old ways of being (old beliefs, ideas, behaviors)?

Challenge: One of the biggest obstacles to change is desiring it. When we cling to an idea of change, even if that change is healthy, we put limits on the change and on ourselves. Practice radical acceptance, embracing where you are in the current moment. In the sweet release of giving up attachment to change, we become swept up in its fluid current.