Lessons from Fall ~ Rest, Recovery, & Productivity

I am very fortunate to live near a park and every morning that the weather permits, Yeti and I take a nice long walk. Some mornings I listen to a podcast, some mornings I listen to an audiobook, but most mornings I listen to the trees and birds and the traffic and my own thoughts. And I find that letting my mind wander and listening to my own thoughts, to be the most refreshing and rejuvenating.  I didn’t used to be able to hear the musings of my mind over my running to-do list. It took time for that to come back. Even now as I embrace my 4th Autumn as a private practice teacher, I never take this opportunity for granted.

I find it's important to give myself that time to process all of the information I take in from all the different areas of my life. We do this to some extent in our sleep, but if you are a parent and/or a teacher- sleep is not always super restful or consistent. That’s why giving myself the gift of time in the morning to walk and process and allow my mind to wander, to be an essential part of my day. One that never feels like work, but has become one of my most productive and creative parts of my everyday life. 

From that reflective and creative space, I want to share with you some of the insights that have been coming to me lately while walking with my sweet boy. Looking at the trees, this is probably common for a lot of us this time of year, I've been meditating on the beauty of letting go of things that no longer serve us. There’s a lot of beauty in that - in letting go. People travel all over the country to look for the most beautiful foliage in order to witness this spectacle celebrating the beauty of letting go. 

Next, I let my mind wander from this beautiful letting go that we are enjoying right now to the cycles of Nature. I’ve been reflecting on what follows this time, which is a period of rest and hibernation, a period of conserving one’s resources for what's to come, all in preparation for bursting forth with new growth again in the Spring. 

So I’ve been asking myself,  “How can I bring this cycle of letting go and conserving my resources in preparation for new growth into my own personal practice?”.  This cycle has been really successful for Nature for a long time, and I think we also need to have periods of pruning and periods of letting go. We need to have periods of recovery, introspection, and conservation of resources - all in preparation for the next bursting forth of growth.

But this morning, as we were walking through the neighborhood, something new came to me. I was reflecting on how beautiful so many of the leaves are that are now on the ground. It occurred to me that it's okay to let go of things that are still beautiful when they no longer serve your higher purpose. And so a new question for myself emerged, “What beautiful things am I holding on to that are not serving my higher purpose and that I can let go of in order to conserve more resources in preparation for my next growth?” 

So that's it, those are my current musings inspired by Fall. I hope that you have a great day and that you find time to allow your mind to wander to new places. 

Best wishes always,

Rachel