Entering Fall - and other Seasons

If it’s Tuesday, it’s Fall! With the conditions of the world (and, at least for me, money being a bit tight), I’m feeling some stress.

With new seasons, we’re always trying to make our way through (this seems even more true this year). Maybe you can identify with some of the ways I’m trying to make it through this season:

Here are some of my more recent seasons:

• Not fun seasons. For the past several months, I’ve been trying to figure out, what’s next? I keep trying to find some combination of things that I want to do that also provide a little bit of income.
• Better seasons. I’ve also tried my hands at some home repair tasks. I’ve got a better average there. I think I’m running about 75% completed repairs. That’s actually money in the bank.
• Still trying to dance seasons. Over the course of the last year and a half, I — who never exercised — have been doing Qigong, Tai Chi, and some HIIT exercises! I’m still figuring out how to move the arms with Tai Chi. But, I’ve discovered that there’s something about moving the body that feels pretty amazing. Even exquisite!
• Even with meditation, there are *good days and (some ->) bad days.* Let me rephrase that. There are days where I feel in the Zone and others where I don’t. In my Tai Chi, I can stand on one leg some days in that elegant bird posture for about 10 seconds on the right side but not on the left. Other days, I can’t. Going back to the meditation, I can feel completely out of the zone (whatever that subjective “zone” means) for all but the last five minutes. The first twenty minutes my mind is a mess. What’s for supper? Did I pay the water bill?Are there any good movies out? Should I wear a white hat to the soccer game where we’ll be out in the sun? It’s non-stop chatter in the old noggin. Then, for the remaining five minutes, it feels like my distraction all the sudden went away.

Are you experiencing any seasonal changes? What are they? Are you able to name them, if only to yourself?

We pursue clarity, mindfulness, insight, wisdom, and creativity like they are modules we can just bolt on. But, it doesn’t work like that. We aren’t machines. We occur in time, in seasons. Even the seasons aren’t bolt-on components: they ebb and flow from one day to the next, flowing from one to another with uncertainty.

We all have these seasons. The unfolding from one to another is variegated and choppy. Rather then fight the ebb and flow or our seasons, we could see these slow changes like our children: they are all different and they are partly what we make of them. Moreover, we might even explore how integrate seasons into life and and societies. As we witness changes in our environment, we might ask What does the Easrth need? How do we meet it’s need? Care, tolerance, rest, work, sleep, rhythm, and repair are all words that are consistent with honoring whatever season is upon us.