I’m so in my element right now. Fall is my season!
I’ve enjoyed the satisfaction and meditative quality of raking leaves as well as sitting outside with a warm beverage while allowing my eyes to weave in and out of focus staring into rich orange and red bonfire flames.
Walking outside I’m greeted by the familiar sound of treetop branches swaying and crashing their leaves, a sound I’ve grown so very fond of (When I close my eyes, I hear the ocean…)
Then if the weather has a bite to it, and I get a little cold (which happens pretty easily) I go inside and cozy in with work or whatever else has my attention.
To me, this sort of presence and appreciation is good daily medicine.
You may have had moments of deep appreciation like this before.
Maybe while listening to a certain type of music, while lovemaking, while engaged in an enriching (or hilarious) conversation or exchange, or while spending time with someone or something of real value and meaning to you.
In these sorts of circumstances, we are more likely to be a “YES” to the moment. We are embodied and present and pretty content being here.
But the interior life of a woman is not so static when it comes to feelings and emotions. We are often the tuning forks of our internal and external environments and how we feel may shift slowly or rapidly, just like the seasons.
There are times when it simply feels harder to be here. Some of us may move into busy-ness in an effort to use productivity as a distraction. Some of us may become hijacked or intensely blended with certain emotions or thinking cycles we can’t seem to “un-stick.”
If a threshold is reached and what is here in this moment does not feel tolerable, this is where other habits may come in. Habits that include over-work or micromanagement of some aspect of our lives, drinking, over-eating, or eating types of foods that don’t agree with us, checking out for hours on end with social media, Netflix, even online research, or overly focusing on others’ needs, picking fights, or any other familiar “escape route.”
These are human habits. In and of themselves they aren’t terrible, really. But when their presence intensifies, we get a clue that we may need to learn how to be with, navigate, and engage with the parts of ourselves that feel more difficult to be with. These parts often yearn for our skillful engagement and presence.
As a member of the Real Food Wellness community, you likely have an interest in your own health and relationship with food and with your body.
Over the summer I was asked to contribute an article for the popular woman’s website, The Ladies Coach, sharing a brief lesson in regarding our “Nutritional Selves.” This is a mini-lesson in exploring a specific polarity that may drive the eating habits of even the most health-conscious person and how to begin to engage these parts more skillfully.
If you choose to read, I also briefly share helpful parts we can invoke to feel more centered as eaters. HERE IS THE LINK
I hope something resonates for you and you have a beautiful remainder to October!
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