Ready to Fall

It's time.

Really, it's time.

Change is in the air.  In the leaves. In your hands.

I love the fall.  Favorite season.  I was born in November - a thanksgiving baby.  There is something inspiring and beautiful in this brilliant death. Yes, death.  On this sunny, autumn October Monday, I want to talk about death.  Brilliant, beautiful death.  Transient death.  That is how I want you to see it, death as change.  Because it's true.  We die into life each and every day. Death and rebirth, death and rebirth, death and rebirth.

To every season, turn, turn, turn.  It is ready to fall's turn.

Now, the cycle part is often lost on us in our daily 24/7. Our lives are full, often stable and well ordered, even in the crazy not enough time, never enough time sort of way. And then, that catalytic event. And  like that brilliant leaf above, we feel the days shorten, the light dim, the temperature drop.

"In early autumn, in response to the shortening days and declining intensity of sunlight, leaves begin the processes leading up to their fall. The veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf gradually close off as a layer of cells forms at the base of each leaf. These clogged veins trap sugars in the leaf and promote production of anthocyanins. Once this separation layer is complete and the connecting tissues are sealed off, the leaf is ready to fall."*

Huh, even though the author is writing about why leaves change color, isn't that a perfect description of a human experience, clogged, sugary veins and all?  Or as I like to say, an animal, vegetable, miracle experience. Betcha didn't know you were producing so much anthocyanins?  Or maybe your not.  Maybe you've lost your color,  your pigment palette of color.   Have you lost the ability to change from feeling blue to radiant red?  Or, the reference to the leaf separating from the tree.  "Once this separation layer is complete and the connecting tissues are sealed off before the leaf is ready to fall."  Brilliant.  Apply that to a couple going through a rough patch in their relationship and you've got gold...gold leaf that is.

It's time.

Really, it's time.

I have a mantra that has served me well as I have gone through a major ten year change cycle in my own life.  I offer it now to you.

Use everything and hold on to nothing. 

And to that end, let's use the brilliant beauty of the ready to fall leaves to create change in your life. 

I am the Queen of Metaphors.  I have a crown and everything.  I see them everywhere.  The connections, the threads, the patterns.  And just like a quilter, I piece them together to create something unique, beautiful, inspiring and peace-full.  I won't go into all the reasons why metaphors are incredibly powerful and useful.  There is a lot of great research, science and psychology to explain.  Trust me on this one.  It works.

So, here is a tool to use when you feel the day closing in, the light dimming and the passing belief that the world is a very cold place.

Ready to Fall Exercise

1.  Close your eyes.
2.  Breathe (when in doubt - breathe. Or better yet, let life breathe for you...it really already does.)
3.  Imagine yourself as a tree.  Any tree you like.
4.  See this tree clearly.  Fill in all the details.  The soil, the bark, the size of the trunk, the number of branches, where you are planted.  Truly, the more detailed and specific, the juicier the insights and information. 
5.  Now, shift your attention to the leaves.  Notice the colors.  Are they mixed?  Do you have greens with some reds and oranges and yellows? Alert:  Random thought to follow.  (This is very like the stray grey hair that shows up as the 'leaves' on our heads are turning.  Just like that colored leaf - that is the grey hair.)
6.  Does one particular leaf catch your attention?  Notice it, really see what it looks like.  Where is it located on the tree?
7.  Now, ask this leaf "what do you want me to know?"  And you know what...and this is the amazing part -  the remember my mantra "use everything"  EVEN when talking to an imaginary leaf, on an imaginary tree that represents some aspect of YOU part, the amazing thing is... the leaf will answer you back!  Every time. Now, for some, it will be a shout.  Clear, loud, nothing to miss.  For some, it will be a whisper, a fleeting glimpse, a misty possibility.  No matter, pay attention.  This is your intuition speaking.  In the only language it knows.
8.  The alchemy of this exercise.  The leaf has just become something else.  It now carries the energy of what do you want me to know and setting that energy in motion.
9.  Depending on the response from #7, this leaf may now just fall, one of the early to turn, low-hanging leaves to fall away or it may be the last of the leaves on the tree, clinging to that branch for one last lingering look.  In your mind's eye, see what the leaf wants to do.  Watch it, honor it, respect it.  There is a deeper wisdom that knows, just like the leaf, when it is ready to die, to fall away.  The leaf will know.
10.  With your eyes still closed, express your gratitude, (or surprise, excitement, fascination) with the exercise, open your eyes and jot some quick notes.  Note what the leaf represented, no matter how weird or strange (in my opinion, the weirder the better),  what fell away from the tree, what let go and what wasn't ready.  Affirm in your journal that something died so that something new can be born.

Repeat this exercise both on cold blue days and red hot brilliant ones. 

One brilliantly colored leaf at a time.

Share your Ready to Fall - setting energy in motion stories. 

It's time.

*Cited from an article "Why Leaves Change Color" by the USDA Forest Service http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/pubs/leaves/leaves.shtm