Hey friend,
I’m very grateful that last week’s call to be gentle with yourself during this difficult time in the world resonated with many folks. If you missed it or need it again, find it here. Keep breathing. Noticing beautiful things in your landscape and in your inner world.
Over this last week, I was so wrapped up in thought and worries that I missed how the leaves are changing.
I’ve experienced that sudden, wild, transformative beauty for fifty-two autumns now–and it still stuns me and fills me with awe.
When I went to pick up my son from his residential school yesterday, I drove on a wooded road. The sun was peeking out after a morning rain so the sky was both golden and gray. The trees created a sea of red and green and orange on both sides of me. Leaves scattered over the road and the path alongside it, where early risers and their dogs were jogging.
I wanted to take a photo for you–but driving. Hopefully my words give you the sense.
The leaves reminded me that we are also always in that process of growth, transformation, letting go. The leaves burst with color, disintegrate into soil for new life.
That process happens even when we forget to notice.
When I got home, I sat and made a list of little and larger ways that I’ve transformed over the last seven days. This creative practice—pause, notice, write—can help us tune in to beauty and loss, open to connection with the landscape, with each other, with ourselves.
This week, let my favorite short poem by Lucille Clifton above or the Rumi or Virginia Woolf quotes on this page inspire you to write into your transformation.
Writing Practice: Set aside 5-7 minutes for this practice. Write in a journal or open a ‘Journey with The Season’ document where you can return each Sunday.
Prompt: Read over the words from Rumi, Lucille Clifton and Virginia Woolf and notice which words resonate most.
If you choose Rumi, write into this question: what is dropping away in your life? What is opening as the ‘dead leaves’ drop?
If you choose Lucille Clifton, write into this question: what are you letting go of? How does letting go feel in body and spirit? Where do you find love and faith in that process?
If you choose Virginia Woolf, write into this question: what memories and dreams are surfacing for you this autumn? Pick one or two to describe in sensory details.
Deepening Practice: My friend Julianne Theodoropulos started this poem in my Autumn Expression writing circle last week.
Let it inspire you to find a visual image to match your writing response from above and create a collage or visual poem. Post it somewhere you’ll see it this week to remind you of transformation.
I am wishing you a week filled with creative juices and connections. I’m praying hard for peace.