Autumn arrives once again with falling leaves, cool weather and change. No matter how we want to cling to the summer it fades into fall. The plants ripen and harvest is ready. We begin reaping what we have planted throughout the year. So, what are we now reaping?
If we look around the world, we are reaping some frightening harvests of violence, hatred, discrimination, terrorism and continuing conflict that results in death, destruction and devastation. It is disheartening when we consider all the efforts we put into the fight against these very things. What are we doing wrong? Perhaps, the ‘fight’ against these concepts is the issue.When Mother Theresa was asked to join an Anti-War rally, she declined and said that when they held a Pro-Peace rally to invite her and she might join.
Are we simply supposed to let these philosophies and their consequent actions continue until the world destroys itself with escalating and unending conflicts? No. But as I watch the leaves falling, the trees do not resist the coming of winter and the loss of the summer’s bounty. Nature surrenders to the cycle of the seasons: To the loss of this year’s leaves, the end of summer’s storms wash the beaches clean, the fires that clear the undergrowth and cleanse the old away, the plowing under of the fields after the harvest to nurture the ground for the spring planting.
One woman who lost her home in the California wildfires said she felt like a burden had been lifted from her life and now she was free from her attachments.
Autumn is the time of surrender. Not a time of loss. A time of gently letting go of that which no longer serves you. Are you still hanging on to:
- Relationships that need more space–like your children who are growing and going to school, becoming adults, have their own families, are creating their own lives
- Relationships that are past–former partners, spouses, lovers, friends and colleagues that have moved on with their lives and you are clinging to your anger, bitterness, resentment, grudges, love, hate or judgment
- Material Stuff–are your closets full of clothes you never wear, that don’t fit you, are out of style, are the wrong color, could benefit others and create clutter in your life
- Household Goods–is your house cluttered, disorganized, messy, filled with stuff you never used, don’t have a place for but cannot get rid of
- Ideas–are you clinging to old beliefs because your family or origin says this is what you should say, do, believe. Do you test those beliefs with what your mind, heart and gut say is true?
- Suffering–are you replaying old stories of pain, suffering, ‘I got done to’ over and over again to gain sympathy. Do you tell new people you meet your stories of bad health, bad marriages, how terrible your life is, was and will be?
- Replaying old themes–do you do the same things over and over again even if they no longer give you pleasure or joy? Go to the same vacations spot for 25 years, play bridge with the same friends who gossip and are always negative, have pork chops on Thursday night when you hate pork chops
You have control over the small and great things in your life. You can release the small things like the clothes you don’t wear. You can surrender the bad ideas that are making you miserable.
Change your thinking and you can change your behavior. Change your behavior and you change your life. Change your life and you change the world. Surrender isn’t painful. The tree doesn’t resist the leaves falling, it simply lets go easily and effortlessly in the natural course of living.
Do what is in your nature. Let go of what doesn’t serve you. Look at your life. What doesn’t serve you in your home, your work, your relationships, your ideas and your beliefs. What feels true to you in your mind, heart and Spirit. Then change your thinking, act accordingly and live your life richly and fully. You will change the world with your love.
Blessings for peace, prosperity, joy and love,
Ariann
