Learning to Leaf It All Behind

Earlier this week as I stepped outside onto my front porch for my morning run, I smiled to hear an eager cricket joining the summer cicada chorus, thinking, and so it begins.

You know what I'm talking about, right? When the 5:00 PM sky begins looking a lot more like dusk than afternoon, and when a jacket might be needed over top of our tank-&-shorts in the mornings and/or evenings, and when my vibrantly green, mossy backyard becomes more thickly covered with a variety of leaves.

Change. Shift. Seasonal transitioning.

One of my most precious Teachers for this time of year's transition is Sister Tree.

In this case, I'm talking about a deciduous tree, one whose leaves change color and fall off annually, as opposed to say, a pine tree.

FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR LESSONS

During Spring, aka the Season of the Maiden, Sister Tree transitioned from the promise of early budding and leafing to the showiness of colorful blossoming. Throughout the Summer, aka the Season of the Mother, she showed us how to bring Spring's promise into full leafy and fruity maturity.

TRANSITIONING LESSONS

But right now, Sister Tree is SHOWING UP differently, and it helps to pay attention because Mama Nature has BIG WISDOM to share about how to live with balance and vitality and fullness. NOTE: I call the process of aligning with Mama Nature's goodness becoming Well-Seasoned.

Sister Tree pays attention to what is no longer needed & lets it go.

Leaves are responsible for converting the sun's abundant energy into the starch and sugars vital to nourishing Sister Tree while she is in the midst of her demanding, productive First Half of the Year Work. Growing flowers and producing fruit (things like acorns or apples) is hard work, and extra helpings of nutrition make that work possible.

But as her growing season reaches its full maturity, Sister Tree releases what no longer requires her efforting--like the fruit she's worked so hard to produce. She realizes she has done all that is good & natural to do, so she pulls back her energy & allows her ripened fruit to fall off.

And, then, because she no longer needs leaves to bring in a surplus of energy from the Sun --most especially a Sun that has already begun pulling back in preparation for its own wintering--she releases them as well.

And then, she begins drawing all her depleted energy inward and downward--back along the branches, into the trunk, and down into the roots in preparation of the Second Half of the Year, when she will rest and restore and root herself more deeply into Mama Nature's earthy bosom, dreaming throughout winter’s blasts and anticipating a new and distant spring that always always always follows.

All I can say is, Preach, Sister Tree; preach!

We are a people who generally haven't accrued much practical experience with letting go, or change, or shift. And we don't understand the goodness of balance--of seasons devoted to efforting and seasons devoted to withdrawing.

But you know what they say, right? Practice makes perfect good enough.

So, we need practice in loosening our grip on what no longer requires our ramped up energy; we need practice in rooting deeply into Source for concentrated renewal and reflection and healing and restoration. Both of these are areas of Sister Tree's particular expertise.

REAL LIFE SISTER TREE-ING

For me, Sister Tree's lessons continue to help me keeping it real in shifting from Mothering (Summer) to Matriarch-Queening (Autumn). My own seasoning in this area includes

  • Letting my grown ass children be grown ass adults (An ongoing BIGGIE, for sure, which is why I employ strong language to get the message across-- to ME!) Note: For your pleasure, I've included a picture of said “grown ass adults” in the picture, below :) If Sister Tree can withdraw her resources from her fruit, so can I.

  • Loosening my grip on my own “this is the way I've always done it” attitude to allow something/someone else to hold sway. If Sister Tree can allow for ch-ch-change, so can I.

  • Acknowledging my waning interest in what might have captivated me in the past--and in which I might have sunk time and energy and money-(I'm looking at you, photo album resource box). It's time to “leaf” this one behind for good. If Sister Tree can redirect her energy and lifeflow, so can I.

  • Owning the times when I am plumb tuckered out and in need of some serious DOWN TIME. If Sister Tree recognizes her own depleted energy and takes action to address her own depletion, so can I.

What about you, Dear Reader? Can you relate? Yes? Not yet?

Either way, I'm going to suggest that you fill your space with all things Sister Tree. Take outdoor walks and pay attention. Make your computer screensaver a gloriously colorful photo of Autumnal tree splendor. Go apple picking or acorn gathering. Bring some colorful leaves into the house & set them on the mantel.

Let the wisdom that is all around us OUT THERE guide our intentions and actions IN HERE.

Until the next time,

xo

Kathleen Davis

As a coach, content creator, & workshop facilitator, I support women in untangling the stories that are keeping them stuck and stressed, so that they are free to savor every season of their wild and precious lives!

http://kathleendavis.com
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A Mid-Summer’s Wintering