4 Lessons, 1 Season: Learning the Art of Living from the Autumn/Fall Season
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus
While walking down the street yesterday, a dry-brown leaf fell on my shoulder and gently slipped through it. I quickly took hold of the leaf and kept it inside the pages of a notebook kept in my bag. My first leaf of autumn 2020.
A new season, a new atmosphere, some golden-brown leaves, many bare-nude trees, some old memories and several new emotions. The season of autumn or fall has profound significance in our lives. This profoundness is a reminder of the influence that Nature has on human beings.
This year’s Autumn is here for you to ponder what you have shed off and learned to let go. Each season this year has been dramatic, scary and unexpected (yet to witness the winter). Yes, we’re all in many ways tired of this year and look forward to better times.
If there is autumn, there will be a spring too.
1. Change
Yes, we are often very stubborn and resistant to change as it can make us feel dejected, uncomfortable, fearful, insecure, often sad and sorrowful. We feel comfortable in how we are, where we are, neglecting the best version of ourselves that we can become. Since change is the only constant, we should learn to embrace it and live in accordance with it.
Have some really terrible habits (those you think are actually terrible)? Changing them means becoming a better “you”.
Need a change in your mindset? Want to break some old-conventional thinking and ideologies? A change in your mindset could mean a more flexible, accepting and versatile “you”.
Some external situations change for you on which you have no control. Sounds quite familiar, right? If yes, it’s better to let go of your expectations and ego and be adaptive of what’s in store for “you”.
So, you see, change has got something for each one of us. Small changes become valuable over a period of time. Of course, change does work for us and in situations where it doesn’t work, that’s where we need to change and make it work for us.
Therefore, autumn teaches us to acknowledge the change in our lives. Good or bad, both need to be embraced. Because. WHAT OTHER OPTION DO WE HAVE?
Let us change what needs to be changed.
2. Preservation
Autumn represents the preservation of life. Have you taken notice of how animals start storing food for winter and prepare making their warm spaces for hibernation? We too start preparing for the winter season and arrange for our comfort and warmth for the upcoming season.
Preserve for a better today and tomorrow and keep eliminating things that are no longer needed in life. Autumn, therefore, offers us a best lesson for self-reflection and a change to re-connect with ourselves.
Let us preserve what needs to be preserved.
3. Balance
Life, my dear friend, is all about balance. With the Autumnal Equinox scheduled in this beautiful, leafy season of Autumn, we can learn the importance of balance.
Maintaining and sustaining a balanced life in a world that is fast-paced is increasingly becoming a challenge for most of us. Therefore, it becomes imperative to sustain and balance our physical and mental well-being.
Simply devoting yourself to just one thing can negatively impact other areas that are significant for your growth. Such a life is a destined route to misery. You might have heard that excess of anything is bad. Therefore, adopting and adapting to balance can remarkably impact our lives and pave way for a healthy living.
Let us balance all that needs to be balanced.
4. Letting Go
The warm temperatures, the green leaves, the colourful flowers, all illustrate the charm of letting go. Autumn teaches us the idea of letting go highlighting the temporary nature of everything around us. The process of letting go can be immensely difficult.
You would wonder (as I often do) —How can we move on and let go when the process is so difficult and painful?
Most things (in fact, one day, everything) will be gone. Our constant efforts to tightly hold on to the past or other things (I’m sure we all have a list of it), limits our capability and potential to experience the joys that life can offer to us. This. Perpetuates. Grief. Stop controlling things that are no longer in your control, that have gone out of your reach and open yourself to new possibilities in this one, short (yet enough) and last life.
Let go of what needs to be shed off from our lives.
And maybe you too should read the delightful words of Rainer Maria Rilke—
“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”
The pain and grief of the autumn season is reflected by the constant falling of the dried leaves from the trees, touching the ground in tune only to be trampled and buried beneath the soil. But. There is silent waiting. Waiting for the leaves and flowers to bloom again. Again. With more vibrance and beauty. The wait for spring becomes never-ending. Until. One day. Spring arrives.
Let us be patient and still like a nude leafless tree. Remember that the tree remains leafless in autumn but not lifeless. New days will arrive soon with more love, courage, calmness and peace.
Here is a brief glimpse of my poem, The Last Few leaves Have Fallen, that bids farewell to autumn and awaits the winter season:
“The last few leaves have fallen
And maybe I should now mourn
The cruel winter is finally here
And autumn has finally gone”
Check out my book, When Words Breathe, and buy it to rejoice the lyrical composition.
Great Work! I like it.
” Let us be patient and still like a nude leafless tree. Remember that the tree remains leafless in autumn but not lifeless. New days will arrive soon with more love, courage, calmness and peace. “
Thank you for appreciating!