Let the Leaves Fall As They May
Change is forever constant. Life has never been known to keep moments standing still. Each chapter, each season of our lives expands into the next. We are brought to the manifestations of what was meant to exist in our lives, learning hard lessons and developing our mind, body, and soul along the way.
As we enter into this next season, we think of the traditional holidays, the growing love for all things pumpkin spice, and the leaves changing colors and falling to make room for the trees to sleep.
When I think of the trees repeating this one tradition each year, allowing their leaves to slowly die and fall away, leaving their branches bare for the winter, I think of how overlooked this process is.
Could you imagine shedding that rapidly each year? Picture yourself throwing out all your possessions (clothes, knick-knacks, items of hobby, car, computer, phone, etc) and only holding onto the things you need most to survive (food, water, shelter, family, and friendship). Trusting that in a few months of bearing the cold and only living off what is absolutely needed to survive, that once again all new possessions will be acquainted back into your life.
For some lucky few of you, this sounds ideal. You already admire the lifestyle of living only for what matters most, not finding it a necessity to bask in material possessions or invest in exquisite hobbies. For you, maybe you shed emotionally. Perhaps you feel internally rewired and physically exhausted from this transitional phase.
For all of us, this transitional phase is the root of each year. Those cycles of emotional and mental clarity where we feel the push to move forward and let go of what was or has been.
This year, I wish for each and every one of my readers, for you to “let the leaves fall as they may.” Allow what goes to go. Allow what comes to feel welcome. Letting go of control is the first step in recognition of the realization that we never had it in the first place.
Judith Sills, Ph.D., wrote in an article titled “Let It Go!” by Psychology Today,
“It's an axiom of psychology that we are some recombination of all of our yesterdays. To move forward wisely, we are therefore often urged to look back. But there's a point where appreciation and analysis of the past become gum on your psychological shoe. It sticks you in place, impedes forward motion, and, like gum, it doesn't just disappear on its own. You need to do some scraping.”