....time to let go

Yogis,
This year the first day of fall on the calendar and the first day of fall in the air held hands. It was as if fall had been waiting for the green light to blow in. The on switch was flipped and cool nights, clear skies and light breezes arrived in our lives.

It also seems like once fall crosses your threshold, there is no ushering her back out. She is here to stay. Even the eighty-degree days that have been sprinkled in, while warm, do not resemble summer days in the least. Spend a few minutes in the shade and that short-sleeved shirt you pulled out of the drawer in the morning no longer seems like the wisest choice. An undercurrent of cool sits below the surface.

I have run in long pants and even seen my breath. My jeans, pulled from the bottom of the closet, are washed and seeing the light of day. I have been resisting socks but my feet are having moments where they long for warmth as I watch the house temperature drop one degree each day. The change is upon us whether we are ready or not.

Fall does not ask our permission. She arrives, taps us on the shoulder and reminds us it’s time to let go…..

The leaves have begun their initial descent. Few enough in numbers now that when one lands on my head while gardening, I am startled, but the wave is clearly on its way. Pinecones, acorns, helicopter seeds from the oak. The trees will let them all go……

The farmers are busy in the fields again, not planting or tending, but taking down. Corn stalks mowed, shredded and given back to the earth. Fields turned over. The farmers know they must let them go…..

My suntan, a cloak I have worn all summer, sewn from the sun’s rays, begins to fade. Let it go……

The garden dries into a beautiful hue of yellow. Birds begin to flock overhead signaling their departure time is close. They will leave us. Let them go…..

The sun now slow to lift over the horizon at daybreak seems almost chased down by the night sky as daylight hours shorten in a hurry. Peaches, plums and tomatoes disappearing from the market.  Students have left their homes and are settled back in dorms. Butterflies, ice cream cones and bare feet……. Let them go.

It can be hard to let go. Nature makes it look so easy.

I have set the intention to follow nature’s lead over these next few months in preparation for the barren simplicity of winter. This week I have gone through dresser drawers and retried on all of my pants. Watching as I put something in the ‘give away’ pile only to second guess the decision moments later. Standing my inner ground and leaving it there. Let it go…..

I have cleaned out a mud room area, an activity which has hung over my head for months. I moved quickly, holding on to only what I need and use. Releasing attachments. An hour later, space and a lightness look back at me. Freedom. Let them go…..

I will go drawer, by drawer. Room by room. My books will challenge me. Items soaked in memories will demand to stay. Why am I so attached to my things….  

Can I let them go?

Let go, have less, be free,
SARAH