The nights are getting cooler while the days continue to cling to summer’s heat. This day however is bringing forth the grace of a warm embrace that mirrors the cool face of Autumn. In it I’m finding favor, charm and thanksgiving for this season of soul that’s asking me to be bold in my not knowing. The challenges of this time of endings and  beginnings bring me to my knees like the leaves that are beginning to fall from the trees with serenity and ease. Embracing this mystery of Life is a gift to please.

In reflecting on Autumn Grace, I find myself agreeing with Ann Lamott who in reflection says: “I do not understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”  Meeting us where we are is part of the mystery of grace that shines in the face of every season if we’re willing to see it. To recognize this mystery of Life, with its ever changing seasons is to become aware of how our lives  are interconnected to the wholeness and rhythms of Mother Earth and all our relations.

Once the soulful inner meaning of Life takes place with the outer, we are changed as is the leafless tree. In this transition there’s a pause, a break in time that, when acknowledged, can shift our awareness in ways that change how we experience and participate in the shimmering darkness and light of our own reflection. Do you notice an awakening every morning as you get out of bed? Do you recognize the Life force as you walk to the restroom, splash water on your face and look into the mirror?

The season of Autumn teaches us about letting go, letting be and celebrating the gift of being free to shed all that’s no longer necessary. It’s another awareness of endings and beginnings we can knowingly experience every day. This rhythm of opening and closing, knowing and not knowing, laughing and crying, living and dying is our ever present glory of Being and Belonging to the Ineffable Oneness of Life’s abundance. Where are you as you read these words? What are you feeling? Are you able to let another leave fall?

As I find myself in the fourth quarter of life, the Autumn of my life, I’m recalling all the former seasons to notice how self absorbed I was and how offensive, defensive and unconscious I was. I’m also awakening to how at every turn, death and life were stalking me and how death now has the advantage. With this new awareness, I’m beginning to formulate a different intention that sees Autumn as a gift to behold and celebrate. It’s a   time to die to the old, shed my leaves and release my seeds for growth beyond me.

It’s time to put everything I think I know on a shelf for further enlightenment; to stop, look and listen to everyone and everything in a more attentive and awakened way. It’s  time for a greater reverence for what is and can be, for a humility that transforms self inflation and self pity. The coolness invigorates the winds of change to rearrange what has been and can be. Autumn Grace awakens us to again walk the path of heart within the soul of Creation.The leaves fall and speak to me. Be free. Change your reality!

• Awaken to the transformation of the trees where you live. Notice the changing colors, the falling leaves, the new callings in the breeze and ask yourself what this moment is asking you to let go of, to shed, to release, to celebrate.
• Take more walks during this season of cooling and releasing. Along the way stop, look and listen to the callings of the breeze and the trees. Awaken to the grace of this embrace and feel the interconnectivity with your environment inside and out.
• Reflect on the energy of death and new life. Give yourself to meditating on how you might make death your greatest ally, your dearest friend, your tree of Life. Awaken!