New Moon Greetings – October 2, 2024
Gather, Appreciate, & Release
Fall is a busy time for gardeners. Depending on the size of your garden it can be hard to keep up with the harvest. And we also have to be concerned about the first frost. In Denver our average first frost date is October 7th. In spite of the warm weather here, frost will be coming soon. So it can be a race to gather everything and preserve it in some way – the remaining basil turned into freezer pesto, the last currants made into jam, and baking the final zucchini bread of the season.
Even if you are not a gardener, autumn has the energy of taking stock and hunkering down. The days are shorter; nights and mornings are cooler. And in honor of pumpkins being harvested in the fall, pumpkin spice flavoring is everywhere. The spices have a warm and cozy feeling that matches the season.
This idea of harvesting can be applied to our lives as well as the garden. What are you gathering in this season of your life? What has transpired over this year that you want to hang on to? Maybe new ideas and habits? Perhaps lessons learned that you don’t want to repeat? Stop a moment to contemplate. Even better, take some time to journal about it or create something that represents your harvest -a craft project, a poem, or art.
Fall is a great time to give some attention to what you want to gather and hang on to.
Beyond Harvest, to Appreciation and Release
In qigong philosophy the fall is not only a time for harvesting, but also a time to practice appreciation and release. Gratitude comes fairly easily for gardeners. Most of us are constantly excited about what is blooming and coming to maturity in our gardens. Daily I am amazed and grateful for the bounty of my small backyard garden, especially because my fulltime job prevents me from tending it as much as I’d like.
But we can widen that circle of gratitude to the bounty in the rest of our lives. Taking a few dedicated moments each day to identify what we are grateful for can move our glass from half empty to half full. And it doesn’t take much. Research tells us that writing down just three things we are grateful for each day can be mood changing. Additionally, writing more than three isn’t recommended as it can feel harder and more like a chore. Keep it simple and identify just three things each day.
Letting Go is Hard for Most of Us
Harvesting and gratitude may come easily to us, but the third part of autumn energy – releasing- can be hard. We may experience
the end of garden season with appreciation, but we may also feel sad to let it go. Life shifts and changes constantly, and along the way and we experience losses – big and small. Grief and sadness are wrapped up in this idea of letting go.
Loss falls into two categories. In the first category are things we are choosing to let go of. Intuitively we may know that letting go of what no longer serves us makes space for other things in our lives, but it can still be hard. This second category of loss, is made up of things we had no intention of letting go of. And this type of loss can be especially hard and overwhelming if it wasn’t part of our plan and we didn’t see it coming. .
The tricky thing with letting go and moving through grief and sadness is finding a balance between honoring the loss and going forward toward healing. Trying to rush through grief (maybe because others think we should “just get over it”) adds to the pain.
A simple breath practice can remind us of a way forward when we are ready. Hundreds of times a day with our breath, we are gathering what we need and letting go of what we don’t. This healing and nurturing process takes place on automatic unless we take the time to tune into it. We can bring our attention to our breath and intentionally work with it to move through sadness and grief.
As you sit in contemplation, imagine each inhale as a soothing balm for your entire being. On the exhale feel some of the sadness and loss slipping away. This is not an instantaneous process, especially when dealing with major losses. It takes some dedication and commitment.
Navigating grief and loss can take time. However, there is a way through and we can honor wherever we are in the process with kindness. And in the midst of grief, we can continue to gather and appreciate the good in our lives because these three actions are intertwined – gather, appreciate, and release.
About this Blog Post & and Global Healing Circles
This post is part of my lunar blog series. For the time being I’ll be posting on each new moon (not the new and full moon as I did the last few years because of some other writing projects). I’m posting this blog early because I’ll be traveling for the eclipse. Usually, blogs will post each new moon and will be related to plants and ideas featured in my book, Growing Mindful. or on other topics related to mindfulness, gardens, and intentional living. For more details and a list of past lunar blog posts, click here.
An invitation to healing circles. One of my new projects this year is partnering with other graduates of the IIQTC (Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi) to offer virtual HeART of Body Compassionate Self Care Practice Circles based on qigong and tai chi. Check out the information here: Global Healing Circles or contact me if you need more information.
