Fall Season Changes and Transitions

It’s happening. The luxurious span of daylight we so easily grow accustomed to in the Summer is waning. The days are shortening, the weather grows cooler, we see and feel the change of season from Summer into Fall all around us.

The Fall brings natural consolidation, it is the season of the harvest, gathering, and taking stock. Outside, we see the trees beginning to shed anything superfluous to remain healthy and strong while natural resources diminish; we see the last bustle of animals and wildlife as they gather and prepare (or straight up leave town) before winter.

Within each change of season, there is an opportunity for us to check in with ourselves and align our internal energy and outward expression with the natural world.

Throughout the fall, we will post about some relevant themes regarding physical, mental, and emotional health, simple practices, personal routines and rituals, as well as recipes and other fun little things. We hope that some of these may resonate, and give some spark for a small change in the interest of greater balance towards your own sense of health and well being.

In this initial post, we wish to talk about the idea of ‘change’ itself, especially change in regard to personal routine. Change is hard, it can be shocking, it can be welcome, it can bring up fear, or it can be an escape, but it always requires some new adjustment.

Tips for changes in routine, lifestyle, and habits:

• To change we usually must let go of something.

• It is easier to replace something negative with something positive.

• The best changes are gradual and steady.

• Pick one thing to work on changing, do that until it is stable, then add something else.

• Being willing to keep up a small effort that is extra to do something new, be realistic about what type of effort you can sustain.

• Don’t judge yourself. Any missteps or deviations are chances to learn, just accept them, and try to do a little better with your next attempt.

Change is more Complicated than we Think:

Lets say, that I want to feel better in my body so I decide I’m going to wake up early in the morning and do some stretching and gentle workout before I get ready for the day. Even this seemingly simple thing, has a huge impact on my routine. 

1. I have to undo my desire to sleep, and wake up early.

2. If I can successfully get past the desire for sleep, I have to find the motivation to stretch and workout.

3. I have to sustain this for a certain number of days, weeks, months for it to have any real impact on my life.

This can quickly become complex, difficult, and too big of a chore. Often what seems like a simple change is complex, because it requires many small things to also adjust, so it is good to break up the different components.

1.  Maybe, just waking up a bit earlier is a good first step -- wake up and feel my body and do some simple movement.  Maybe, I start with only waking up 10 minutes earlier, then after some weeks, increase it to 20 or 30, then after some weeks increase it to 45 minutes or an hour.

2. Just the habit of waking up earlier might be enough, maybe I only do a very small amount of movement or exercise, that habit might be a whole separate thing to work on. It is best to be realistic with yourself and find something that can be steady. 

3. Once waking up earlier is normal, then I can add and experiment with what type of exercise or movement feels best and suits me in the morning. What enhances my sense of well being? Maybe movement feels good, maybe just deep breathing is what suits me best, it might be that meditation or prayer or affirmation bring about my best sense of well being.

How we conceptualize change, and understanding our own nature can help us better adapt to make realistic and successful interventions.

Common patterns:

There are two main extremes when it comes to dealing with change.  

One extreme wants to explode into changing and morphing, they are full of enthusiasm and ideas, ready to change their whole life, their diet, their workout routine, their personal practices and emotional habits. They are ready to toss out the old canvas, get a new color palette, and work with a whole new set of ideas.

The other extreme is not welcoming the change, it makes them uncomfortable, and they wish to burrow and hide, hoping that they can stay the same to later emerge without too much being different. They want to hold onto what they know and are comfortable with, and don’t necessarily wish to be confronted with anything outside their realm of normality.

Think about these two extremes relative to a simple event we see in nature in the fall - that of the trees shedding their leaves. This, of course, is a big change in routine and a big change of self for the tree. If we take the examples of the two extremes above - one would be like a tree that not only sheds its leaves, but decides it can drop its limbs entirely, and maybe even get up and walk away to become a different kind of tree somewhere else. While the other extreme is like a tree that refuses to let go of the resources it can no longer sustain, and so it is taxed in a different way.

Within the dynamic changes of each of our life circumstances, relationships, and seasons, we usually find ourselves leaning toward one of these two extremes at various times. As the world of nature changes around us, we have a new chance to see ourselves more clearly and how we fit into the paradigm of change for this season.