Shards of Consciousness

Here in the northern hemisphere summer is starting to give way to fall. The weather is cooling. The mint in the garden is beginning to slow its growth. Grass doesn't ask to be mown quite so often. Today I saw the first signs of leaves beginning to brown as the sap recedes in the maples. Over the next couple of months the natural world will be put to bed for the winter.

In the human world we, too, are in a time of transition. School is back in session as that remnant of our agricultural past, the summer vacation, comes to an end. We begin to put away our yard work and gardening as indoor pursuits come to the fore.

In the southern hemisphere the opposite is happening. Nature is waking up. Grass is beginning to green. Flowers begin to bud. Sap rises in the trees once more. People begin to feel the pull of the sun and our blood flows a little bit stronger.

Don't ignore the signs of the changing of the seasons, whether in the world around you or in yourself. We all have our little cycles, our ups and downs, our times of activity, and our times of introspection. We learn to let them guide us, to work with them. We are also part of the larger world, born and bred as part of the earth. If we pay attention, we will fight ourselves and our world all the less. We will find ourselves able to do all the more.