SEASONAL INSIGHTS
joying harvest through gathering, eating, and sharing your bounty. My friends have been graciously giving me fresh veggies from their bountiful gardens, and I’m enjoying the delicious nourishment they provide. What about the intentions you set for your goals and personal proj- ects, and personal growth? How are those coming along, and what fruit are they bearing? This is the season of taking note, tweaking plans, tending those projects, acknowledging how far you’ve come, and following through for ultimate success. Giving Thanks Harvest is the season of gratitude. Are you feeling grateful for your abundance, gifts, and progress? If not, I encourage you to celebrate your wins, and learn from your challenges. This part of the process is ongoing. Gratitude equally applies to actual and metaphorical chaff. With - out chaff, there is no grain. What chaff can you release and how are you thankful for its lessons and gifts? In what ways can you compost that chaff and turn it into fertile ground for what’s next? Gratitude is perennial and yields even greater abundance. How can you enjoy the toil of harvest? Are you able to take in all the bounty, fully receiving the goodness and nourishment in your life? Gracious receiving is not often taught in our society. Instead, there is emphasis placed on giving. Balancing receiving with giving is nec- essary to personal growth and fulfillment. The more we expand our capacity to receive, we increase our abundance. Harvesting requires ongoing work and includes planning for Win- ter. Our agrarian ancestors planned the entire year in anticipation of stocking up to get through winter. Today, we no longer stock up for long, harsh winters.
Release Autumn also shows us the value of letting go. As the trees glorious- ly turn colors and shed their leaves, and plants give their bounty for our nourishment, they demonstrate the beauty of making space for what’s next. Whether we are releasing old emotional baggage, getting rid of things we no longer use, or leaving situations that no longer serve us, we honor the natural cycles of growth and decay, life and death. It can be uncomfortable to make space and leave it empty, but doing so prompts discernment that enables us to wisely fill that space with what is best — what our hearts yearn for most. The end of harvest coincides with a sacred period of honoring death. Halloween, Samhain, Dias de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)... they help us to recall that Death is an important part of Life. Many cultures have celebrations of Death that fall during this time of year. You can create your own rituals to acknowledge your losses, deceased loved ones, and other parts of life that require letting go and mourn- ing. I personally believe celebrating Life and Death are some of the most sacred acts we perform. My own celebration this year will in - clude the recent loss of my parents who died this past year. Mourning, grief, and gratitude have become synonymous for me, and keep me lovingly tethered to those who have become ancestors. I acknowledge their gifts as well as the pain of such great loss. Have you lost people or even situations (jobs, status, health, rela - tionships) that you value? In what ways is grief appearing in your life? How are you giving reverence for those gifts and your pain? What are some actions you can take or rituals you can do to honor loss? Grief is heavy and deserves loving, compassionate, reverent outlets. As we celebrate death and loss, we should also consider our ances- tors. Since we’re discussing harvest, let’s consider we are the harvest continued on page 30
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PATHWAYS—Fall 23—29
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