I wish you were here right now, to feel, and see the quality of this light streaming down and in. I know you would love it, sitting here. You would sit, with me, in this quiet morning, absorbing the light that flows and tumbles over the doorstep, in and through the windows, and on and into the places within. I wish you were here, to watch this light falling all over itself, to land at our feet.
Regardless, of the autumn cold outdoors, I open the door wide, with the intention of allowing all light to flow freely over the threshold, and into the deep places within. I hold this spot for us, watching this light arrive in waves, with all colors mingling, warming all they touch.
While the home fires burn bright, and the Autumn temperatures cool, at the threshold, I feel both~ the coolness, and the warmth. Sometimes the heat is greater, sometime the coolness makes me shiver, as they eddy together in unseen currents. I face outdoors, so I feel the warmth on my back, and the coolness on my face. And the light of the sun, most brilliant of all, weaves and intertwines with and through the eddies, warming me most of all, adding to the magic, and bringing a sense of something beyond understanding.
There is a dance at play here that keeps me at this doorstep. I do not hear the music. I feel it, I feel a deep quiet, a quiet you notice at sunrise. Or one you can hear after the wind blows. A silence so penetrating, that is feels as though there is a sound.
I would hold you here in this pervasive streaming light, that comes in, and through the doors all the way to my heart. We would listen together to the song the waves make, letting our bodies dance in a new light.
Gentle quiet Gifts of inspiration from the trees, for any time of transition.
It is Falling day. The magical day when, following an unseen signal, some trees spontaneously release their bounty of leaves in a synchronized swirl of falling grace. The descent is a mesmerizing dance, as the fluttering envoys wind their way toward a new adventure, falling in a eddies of beauty and light, cascading in glittering golds and yellows, all on the cyclical migration to the bare bones of winter rest.
This day arrives in any weather. It may be windy, cloudy, shivery or sunny. The leaves follow their own path, and timing, dancing to the rhythm of their own making. I discover the performance while on my way to harvest from some garden. Some of the leaves decorate the path. Crunching underfoot. The wind of my passing causes them to stir up once more, to flutter and swirl in a new tide of motion, following the beat of an unheard drum. As sweet as the leaves are on the ground, my eyes lift to watch the performance overhead.
Overhead, is a light show; a celebration to the passing of time, homage to the grandeur of life, the showing of one's true colors, a tribute to dancing to the very end, and to living life to the fullest. Living loud, living in full color, and living bright.
In my front yard, resides a Grandmother Beech. Her branches hang low, with gravity pulling them lower and lower every year. Her leaves used to brush my hair as I passed. The branches that hang there now, have stop producing greenery a few years ago. And slowly, more of grandmother’s other limbs stop making new growth as well. I watch, knowing, that some day, the last limb will fall and the life of grandmother will be a legacy for the earth. Grandmother will decide that moment and that timing. She will decide when to stop and when to completely let go. Until that time, she will transition into her elder status in her own rhythm and grace.
Many studies have shown that what we who love the trees have long intuited is true: in their ancient wisdom, the elders are far more vital to the health of the forest and the land than we could ever comprehend. That their roots offer gifts to all who pass or grow nearby, indeed they feed mycelium that communicate to young trees miles away, helping them grow and in turn, helping all of us manage the stressors of our daily life with more grace. A forest that has an elder nearby, grows healthy and grows fast.
I offer gratitude for grandmother who decides to linger longer here; grateful for her wisdom, her sweetness and the many other contributions that she provides for all as a member of this forest. As such, I am grateful for another day with her who, as a member of my community and as an integral part of this life, adds to the well being of the whole.
I find that I too linger longer at the base of her trunk, wondering indeed, what other mysteries does she hold in her roots, helping all of us stay well on this planet. For now, the Grandmother tree lives.
I hope to be as wise as the trees on my path of life: to welcome their magic in my every day, to stand tall, to celebrate with kin, to share my wisdom with others, to shine bright and dance in any season, to listen to my inner timing, and to fall with exquisite grace.
I will sit at her feet and watch her wisdom cascade in golden light to me
More tree photos offering inspiration to shine, stand tall, let go and believe ~
(the above photo is a little out of season, but captures free fall so beautifully)
As always, thank you for all that you give to me in your standing tall and reminding me of the grace of life.
This prayer came from the bronze-leaved trees of the hills a day before shedding the rest of their leaves. It is a prayer offered to all trees. Before the great white covering of the land arrives:
Thank you for teaching, in your living, of vulnerability and
Stripping ourselves bare for all to see
In anticipation of great change
And hopes of, as of yet, unimaginable regrowth.
Once more transforming the air, water, sun and earth to form.
I am touched by the trees' vulnerability, pride and honesty standing in their shapes. Those of us who live in the north invariably have a moment in the year when we realize that we love this time of year when one can see the shapes of the trees outlined in the sky. Thinking about the losing of the leaves, the color, the music they make, the companionship and the covering seems much harder than the reality of it. Once they have gracefully, joyfully, shall I add gleefully, fallen, it is a gift to see the naked tree in its raw authenticity.
Now, is a pause, a moment between, a moment for which I am grateful. We rest, we sense, we listen and hear, knowing that change on many levels is upon us. It is the pause before speaking, the pause before action, the pause before knowing, the pause before transformation. Soon the winter months of the northern country will call for a different voyage.
I wish you all a moment to notice and enjoy this pause.
The beauty continues, in the Northeast in golds, yellows and oranges and the range of hues in between. I have collected leaves and more leaves and again more...
Yesterday a cloudburst opened with winds that pulled, and tossed the leaves in all manner of patterns in the sky. The trees released yet more beauty. It is amazing that there are any leaves left on the trees at all.
I was driving on a windswept road and as I came down the hill a line of maples and oaks greeted me with bold colors, still displaying their joy and light. I felt an unconscious reminder of the light ahead of the proverbial tunnel. The trail of beauty before us leads us forward one step at a time, to, we find, more beauty.
After a sunset with the sky ablaze in pinks and reds, we turn a corner of the road and see more beauty in a stand of trees gifting us with yet more. Still aglow with a light like fire.
The trees capture the light and reflect it to us, even when we may not feel it in ourselves on the Autumn days.
