Karyn's Blog
How Does Your Garden Grow? - Autumn
My husband has bought himself a contraption that looks like a cross between a Trident and a 3 metre long shepherds’ crook. It’s for getting stubborn apples on the top branches of our trees to let go, be captured and transformed into good Normandy cider. I watch him patiently wiggle then catch the fruit. I stay clear of falling apples collecting the wind falls. Similar jobs like raking leaves that, but weeks earlier were aflame with colour, are necessary tasks of autumn work in the garden. It is a time to honour and appreciate what the garden provides us. There is a joy when the crop has been harvested and a poignancy where it comes to a close.
At the same time it is the season to work out what to let go of, where pruning will bring an added flourishing next spring. This is true for us too. As projects, tasks, relationships grown and change we may need to let go or resolving old issues, dumping out-of-date stories about ourselves or others that no longer serve us, pruning unnecessary suffering to make space for new experiences.
Autumn energy is about:
- To recognise, appreciate, and value and say thank you for the heart
- To evaluate with precision, speak our truth and clarify
- letting go to let come
Many organisations are good at pushing for innovation and newness. Multiple projects running in many directions simultaneously are exciting, vibrant and important aspects of a successful high performing business. It is also important to take enough time to recognise, appreciate and show gratitude to all who contribute to that success. Appreciation, they say, should come in a proportion of 5 to 1. Five positive pieces of feedback to 1 critical. Well, not just businesses, that’s good practice for anyone.
Qualities Associated With Autumn
- Sadness
- Letting go
- Honouring and appreciating
- Gratitude
- Valuing and evaluating
- Uniqueness of self and others
- Inspiration
- Awe
- Structure
- E essence
Autumn Questions
- How have your actions this year aligned with your values? Integrity requires that you prune the contradictions.
- What is overdue for de-cluttering in your life right now?
- How do you take time to appreciate who you are?
Autumn Practices
- For the next three months write down 3 things each evening that you have been grateful for during the day
- Go through your closet, desk, garage, medicine cabinet - any cluttered area - and discard what you no longer need. Then, donate, sell, or otherwise circulate what might be of value to others
- Call a friend who has been there for you for a long time and tell them what they bring into your life or how you appreciate who they are
- Find a new source of inspiration that you can draw upon in little regular ways for the next twelve months. It could be a website you really will look at, series of quotes, and give yourself time to dip in regularly. Here are a couple lots of people like:
www.rickhanson.net/writings/just-one-thing/
One tip or idea that helps ease life from Dr Rick Hanson
www.tut.com/inspiration/nftu
Daily 'Notes from the Universe'
Karyn Prentice