3 Lessons of Fall
It's Fall.
October 2014 has been quite the month for falling.
Lately I have felt like my writing is sacrosanct. I felt like I couldn't publish. Even Facebook status updates became burdensome. For someone who spends most of my day on social media talking, lately it hasn't been very personal. Perhaps that's because it feels a little sacred.
In addition, I have started letter writing. And I've been practicing bearing my soul with the pen again (To be sure that I still have it in me.)
The blogging has been intentionally quiet.
It's not for lack of "emotional business,” that's for sure. Actually, the opposite is true, there has been an overabundance of the emotion in the business and in the life in October 2014. This will be a momentous month forever more. It marked heightened personal and professional successes and failures all at once, all at the same time. Was there emotion? Fuck yeah. In one week I found myself surrounded by a whirlwind of opportunity, excitement and fear. It all feels so hallowed. Even referencing it feels improper. Talking of it, speaking of it would make all the shit storm a constant moment of reflection and I don't have time for that. I don't need any more surveillance on my life than I already give it. All I want is November 2014. I could use a little balance, a little less of the extremes, a little less volatility in the stream.
And I'm being vague on purpose. And with all the ups and downs, I am reminded of 3 lessons of Fall that I'm feeling particularly inclined to reiterate.
1. The Arrival of Night Begins Earlier:
It's that time of year when darkness comes sooner. The light in the day is shorter and the hours of darkness envelop our minutes. To combat the dark, I am reminded that I must dive in.
3:40am the alarm rings. I know it's time to get up. This side of the planet is still dark. The sun is shining on the other side of the world but I'm beating its rise to Nevada.
I get up and go to my writer's room to write.
I let the world sleep and I start my day. Quiet, prepared, stretched. And I hang out for a few hours in the magic between night and day. It's lovely there. It's nurturing there. It's cold, but that won't stop me. Peace lives here, before the world wakes up, before the phone chimes with messages, when it's only the darkness, my pen and me. The lesson of fall is not that it's darker earlier, but that there's now more room there for me to play in. More quiet space for self.
2. The words Fall and Autumn all have the meaning "to fall from a height":
I'm reminded of hubris, ego and the nasty, unpleasantness of it this fall. A reminder that I have fallen before, a reminder to be gentle, but get away so as to not fall too. A reminder of humility. A reminder to do good and be good. No matter what. This fall reminder is the most painful.
How do I prevent it? The fall from height?
Follow my fucking gut. When it's bad, when it feels nauseating, get out. Run from it. Pull my stock.
When it's good, follow the flow. Let it be easy, let love dominate and there will be no height too monumental.
Stay grounded.
3. The possibility of summer is gone and the chill of winter is on the horizon:
It’s time to retreat to the cave and work. Time to be gracious, time to build, time to work through the cold and harvest work that will reap benefits in the upcoming year.
Simplify. Clean. I cleaned my computer, my email, my bed sheets, my floors, my fridge. Get rid of the shit that doesn't belong. De-weed to prepare fertile soil for the harvest.
Unfriend, delete, unsync, empty trash, run the update.
Remove the clutter and prepare for the freshness. Open the windows and let the last bit of summer drain out as the cool air cleanses the humidity left behind.
Harvest.
The fall has given me some hard knocks and some very real successes that could barely be measured in words or lessons. I'm grateful for an amazing team at work and home. I'm blessed to be surrounded by smart people on a consistent basis. My Crowd Siren teammates, my family members. They keep me grounded. They are there no matter how many falls I experience in this thing called "emotional business."
Cheers to the Harvest!
