“It’s okay to pause before responding…to be with ‘what is’ and see how it might be a different ‘what is’ if you just wait a day or two; and try to access wisdom and see a deeper truth that may be what really needs to be responded to."

-Ellen Agler

It was a bountiful summer:
Outdoor yoga, long days, warm nights, lightning bugs, birdsong, porch time, playing, running, planting, watering, watching green things grow, watching flowers bloom, smelling flowers, getting dirty feet from walking out back, smelling freshly cut grass, beach walks, tree hugging, jumping into cool bodies of water, eating yummy veggies & delectable fruits, listening to music, playing music, singing, reading, visiting, working, laughing, crying, and sweating in the high heat! I could go on…
It sounds idyllic; and in a way it was. The way things feel when we pick out the best and most wonderful parts. It went so fast.

We’re shifting into a new season. Do you feel any changes? In the outside world? In your inner world? In the ecosystem that is you? I sure do. And it makes me feel closer to the natural world; as though I’m a cell in the bigger body/ecosystem outside myself. And that makes me feel more connected to myself, and to the world outside me, and to you. It feels like a beautiful thing to me. Just like the diverse ecosystem that is the natural world, we carry these diverse ecosystems around with us. And the diversity is part of the beauty. We don’t judge the liver as being better or worse than the heart, or the skin as being prettier or uglier than the intestines. It all plays a part in the form & function of the whole. What a miracle. And each human plays a part in this whole. We are all on our path of unfolding; opening and closing at different rates, at different times, when our hearts allow it. Even though the experience might feel different for each of us, we’re interconnected; how we move through the world affects the world. How we think about the world affects how we move through the world. The ripples of energy are sometimes palpable.

I hope you can find a few moments to get quiet enough to sense what you might need in the moment to feel more grounded and whole. When you look inside at that ecosystem of you, you may feel like you need a map. You might find all sorts of unmarked and unexplored territories. You might find yourself lost. But each time you go back, you might start to recognize the terrain and feel more comfortable with all you find…not just the parts you feel you can show the outside world, but the parts you haven’t even looked at yourself. It takes practice and patience and introspection. It takes love and openness over fear and shutting down. And there’s no one forcing a timeframe or a deadline. You might need years to get to know yourself. You might need lifetimes. I don’t know; I feel like I do! What I have an inkling of, is that all of us need a moment of pause now & then; to notice our feet back on the ground, our breath moving inside us, the person standing in front of us, simply asking to be acknowledged.

Here are a few resources for moving into fall in the most nourishing ways possible. I hope you find at least one gem that calls your name and helps you to practice pausing...

• Herbal Pantry Reset with Kami McBride

• Skin Earth Vitality Podcast: Episode 75—Seasonal Beauty

• Excellent Research Article on Mind-Body Interventions

• Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown