Leaves are changing color, nights are chilly, the sun is lower in the sky. We are one week past the autumn equinox and it feels like Fall has settled in.
Autumn has historically been a time of gathering and storing for winter. Celebrations of harvest and thanksgiving were popular. And even though many of us are not gathering food for the winter, we symbolically think of this time as a harvest. It might be viewed as a time to contemplate our strengths and internal resources. Or it might be a time of gathering energy for a project.
Autumn is a Time of Releasing
However, it occurred to me that equating autumn with gathering and storing is a human-centric perspective. From a plant’s view, especially in temperate climates, it’s a time of release.
For annual plants (those that live one season), everything has been leading up to this moment. All summer they have been gathering sunshine, nutrients, and water with the ultimate goal of creating and releasing seeds. And even perennials that live more than one season, will create seeds to create new life.
Releasing seeds into the world is happening everywhere in the fall. Many of the vegetables and fruits we love are simply fancy seed holders designed to get those seeds out into circulation. Squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pea pods, raspberries, apples – all seed containers ready to release their seeds at the right moment.
Deciduous trees are engaged in a different kind of releasing. In letting go of their leaves in autumn, it is not about creating new life. The leaves simply are no longer needed. The tree lets them go.
Paying Attention
If we are paying attention, we can observe releasing going on all around us. Seeds scatter to create new life and leaves let go because their work is complete. So this week, in honor of a plant’s view of autumn, our mindfulness focus word is releasing.
Releasing may mean a project we’ve put energy into coming to fruition. It might be time to put our seeds and ideas out into the wild world. But we can remember that not all seeds are viable, so maybe we’ve put energy into something and it is not materializing in the way we’d hoped. It still might be time to release it even if the seeds won’t take. And like the deciduous trees, there may be some things we no longer need. They may be tangible items, or they may be habits and attitudes. Releasing has many different dimensions. We can be attentive to what we’d like to release in our own lives.
For more information about mindfulness focus words click here.
