Autumn

Fall has definitely come to Albuquerque.  It's not that the temperatures have changed that much.  It's still very hot.  But, the quality of light has changed.  The earth has rotated enough that the sun is not as much over head as it was.  The light has a lower angle to it and it's a bit more diffused.  The shadows are a bit longer.  And, there's more breeze now and more clouds.

I used to think noticing fall in this way was something I did in California.  I thought that in other places, with more distinct weather patterns, fall would be more obvious.  The weather would cool.  The leaves would turn.  I thought it was a subtle change in California because the weather changes are not as marked as they are in places farther north and farther east.  But, it isn't just a California thing.  And, it happens suddenly.  One morning I'll wake up and realize it's fall.  It's like the planet made a larger shift of position over night.  But, it's like that with a lot of things.  It's one way, until it isn't.  It's fine, until it isn't.  And, it's not a gradual kind of change, it happens quickly.  It's like I looked away for a second and when I looked back, everything had changed.  It's summer, until it isn't.

I love the autumn.  It's my most favorite season.  There's a quiet melancholy to it.  The colors are earthy and rich.  The air is fresh.  It signals change and transformation.  Harvest time.  Roasting chilis.  My birthday.  The beginning of another personal year.  The outward activity of summer turns inward.  Sweaters come out.  I have to replace my flip flops with shoes.  Long pants replace shorts and crops.  The days get shorter.

The light from the sun affects us in so many ways.  We're tied into it no matter how much electricity we produce and how many artificial sources of light there are.  In the fall things start to soften from the glare of summer.  Winter drives us inward as it gets darker and colder.  And, spring awaken us with light's return as days get longer and temperatures start to climb.  If we don't get enough sunlight, we become less healthy.  Without enough sunlight, we get emotionally depressed.  The sun carries hope with it.  It not only lightens our atmosphere, but it lightens our mood.  It's not just visual, it affects us cellularly on every level.  It affects our glands and the way our bodies work.  It affects the way we think and how we feel.

We just had the largest solar flare from the sun we've ever had.  Our planet is being infused with huge amounts of light.  Our bodies are struggling to open fast enough to receive these infusions of light without going into overload.  I feel it by having difficulty sleeping.  I feel an underlying anxiety that's not really attached to anything in particular.  I feel a vulnerability and a rawness.  I'm more sensitive and emotional.  As I'm able to integrate each new infusion of light, the symptoms dissipate and I'm lulled into thinking things have returned to "normal," which is not the case.  As we integrate each new wave of light, things are changed forever.  We get to a place where things feel normal as we equalize, but each new blast of light moves us forever forward.

The sun has always been revered and its essential contribution has been worshipped.  There have been civilizations that built religions around it.  Pharaoh Akhenaten used a sun disk as the only physical symbol of his religion of the One God...a religion built around light, with the concept that everything is light.  No wonder the sun was its symbol.  Without the sun there is no life.  Without photosynthesis, there is no oxygen.  We could artificially create an atmosphere where life could be sustained, but there would be no natural life.

Each season requires an embrace, a surrender into it and what it brings.  And, each season lays gifts at our feet.  I hope you open to and enjoy the autumn season and all of its gifts.  I hope you revel in the change and relax into it.  I hope you are able to flow with it and allow it to take you where it will.  I find the fall exciting and full of renewal.  It energizes me and gives me new direction.  As ready for summer as I was when it began, I'm ready for fall now.  I hope you're as ready for it as I am and that you enjoy every minute of it while it's here.  I hope you're able to fully surrender into it and to receive all the gifts it has to offer; and, that you feel enriched by it on every level.  The sun and the seasons are part of who we are, and we become more ourselves as we flow with them.