If you close your eyes and remember being little, when summer began to turn toward autumn, what comes to mind?
For me, it’s crisp mornings, apple cider, earlier bedtimes, and reaching for another layer before heading outside. The air changes. Fruit is ripening. The days become shorter, and the evening begins to beckon us inward.
Here on the East Coast, we can feel this slow turning because the changes are happening all around us. The light shifts. The mornings are cooler. The garden begins to offer up the last of its abundance.
And as the natural world begins its journey inward, perhaps we can make room for a little quiet reflection of our own.
What are we ready to let go of?
The trees will soon let go of their leaves. Plants are offering their fruit—the harvest of everything that has been growing all summer long. A transition is happening all around us.
Are you able to slow down enough to notice these small shifts?
Even pop culture has a little fun with our love of “sweata weatha,” all things pumpkin, cozy blankets, and that first cool evening when we finally close the windows.
But underneath the humor, I think there is something important happening.
We are craving a reprieve from the expansiveness of summer.
Our taste buds crave something new. Our bodies look forward to another layer. We begin longing for warm food, earlier evenings, and home.
Perhaps this is an inner resonance with the need for change.
Our bodies are beginning to turn their gaze, slowly but steadily, inward.
There is something beautiful about recognizing that we are part of the natural world rather than separate from it. We can notice what is changing around us and become curious about what might also be changing within us.
What a gift that our bodies can recognize and welcome this shift.
Of course, the modern world doesn’t necessarily change its expectations of us simply because the season has changed. There are still schedules, children, work, meals, appointments, and all the things that need tending.
But perhaps the question isn’t, How do I change everything?
Perhaps it is:
Where in my day can I make one small shift?
Take a few quiet moments in the morning or evening to notice what is stirring within you. You might sit quietly with a warm drink, take a walk, or write for a few minutes.
Here are a few questions to carry with you:
What am I noticing that I am craving these days?
In what ways is nature reflecting what is happening inwardly for me?
What am I ready to harvest—and what am I ready to let go of?
What is one small shift I can make to honor what is changing around me and within me?
As women, wherever we find ourselves in the seasons of our lives—Maiden, Mother, Mage, or Crown—we can give ourselves permission simply to notice what we notice. We don’t have to rush past change or turn away from it.
We can become curious about it. We can listen. We can allow the changing world around us to remind us that transition is not something outside of life. It is life.
And perhaps, as we learn to meet change with greater awareness, integrity, and care, we are becoming the women the Earth needs now.
With love,
kris
