Note from Louisa

​About this time every year, I find myself in a state of autumn longing. While I try to remain present to the gifts of warmth and light, the hot, humid, languid days challenge my capacity to think clearly and get things done. When the air cools and the light starts to shift, I find myself coming more alive. So, by the end of August, I am ready. I’m ready to move back into routine and the grounding that summer just doesn’t offer me.
 
For many, this is a time when anxiety begins to slowly creep back in. As the sun lowers itself in the sky earlier and earlier each day as we approach the Autumnal Equinox, there is a growing dread of the harsh winter that lies ahead.
 
Our ancestors, who lived closer to the Earth, also knew this dread. For them, it was often a matter of physical survival as they gathered to face the cold and dark months when the bitter snow blanketed the hunting grounds and the vegetation lay dormant and unyielding.  
 
Yet, they found ways to celebrate the end of summer and its bounty through Harvest Festivals that allowed them to come together as a community to share the gratitude they had for all the Earth had provided to help them through the winter. Even in years when the bounty was less than expected and survival felt less certain, there was gratitude.
 
That is the practice I turn to now each year as we transition between the summer and autumn seasons. Where is the overlooked abundance in my life that I need to acknowledge? Even if the harvest hasn’t been what I hoped for, what have been the gifts of this season as it draws to a close? What have I taken for granted or forgotten to celebrate? And how can this bounty help me through the dark times that inevitably lie ahead?
 
Blessings on your journey, 
Louisa