Why do we always try to hold on so tight? I am sitting at the edge of the lake today, crying. And i don't know why i am crying. The geese are playing in the mirrored pond and the ducks are spread out across the hill, grazing. I hear this rustling- and i look up and the leaves on the huge tree that is leaning across the pond, are quivering. They are barely holding on to the stem that reaches out over the water. And i hear a voice say , "Let the leaves fall." Let the leaves fall means letting go of anything and everything that is no longer serving your highest good, highest light and highest soul purpose- your light purpose. As we bear witness to the falling of the leaves, it is a reminder for us that it is okay to let go of that which is worn out, or old or does not fit us properly anymore. It is time to release. The end of another year is two days away. The falling of the leaves is a calling to release the old. This can be old ideas, concepts, feelings and emotions as well as old things and judgements. In witnessing the leaves fall, we give ourselves permission to let go of that which no longer serves us. And, in watching the leaves fall, we are invited to witness the very seasons of our life with grace.
Leaves are born on great trees, and they expand and grow and they are brilliant brandishing their colors and wisdom, and with the winter's snow, they fade and tatter until their hold on their stem gets loose and a big wind blows them away. But you don't see them crying. With grace, when the wind blows, they just let go. And they fall. And that is okay. In spring, the leaves that fall nourish the ground and new plants are invited to grow. It is like that with us too. The old leaves represent old ideas, concepts, feelings, judgements, ways of doing things, outdated processes, feelings, woundings and hallows... Like old outdated garments that no longer fit the person we have become, we must let go of the old that no longer serves us. And, that which we let go, as the seasons change, allows us to grow in new and different and often unforeseen ways.
What if we tried to hold on to the leaves? How silly would that look? A tree trying to hold onto her leaves? And it would be futile, because the leaves, they fall down. It's just what they do. Over time entropy wins. Change wins. It is our constant. As we stare at our own mortality, we remember harshly that we live, we love and we die. In every season there are births and deaths. Sometimes it is the small deaths that are the hardest because they represent the changes that occur inside of us, within our hearts and minds and we are scared of such changes because we like and appreciate the constancy of identifying who we are and what we stand for in this crazy mixed up world. The small deaths occur when we are in transition, transforming, and in a state of becoming. Small deaths occur when we let go of thoughts, feelings and emotions. It is the changing way we feel about something or someone; the pent up, bound up feelings we feel about a past event or occurrence, the feelings the inner child has about life and love, roles, sex and identity. For as long as we are alive, we are forever experiencing small deaths. It is in the small deaths, that we live and ironically, expand. We have to choose to look at this beautiful world and recognize that there are seasons; there is a summer, and a fall, a winter and a spring. There is birth, there is life, there is death.
Today, we are riddled with small deaths and large deaths as people and things that we have known and we have loved, pass on.... and there is nothing we can do about about it; there is nothing left for us to do except to surrender. Like the leaves that fall from the tree, there is nothing we can do but watch the leaves fall and be grateful for the experiences of birth and life and recognizing eventually in a world where mortality exists there is death. Small death, large death, best rest easy my lovelies, for there is never forever death. In the spring of the eternal kingdom, life flows and the sun glows eternal.
In this season of losing friends and family and losing jobs and money; in this season of experiencing these mountain of changes in our lifetime that we never thought we would see, the fear of a new norm is haunting us. And I find myself here, sitting next to this pond, listening to the music of the leaves, remembering that it is okay to let the leaves fall because in God's way there will be new leaves and new flowers and new loves and new money because in this experience of life there are always seasons.
It is time to let go of anything and everything that is no longer serving our highest good and highest light and highest soul purpose. I invite you to sit with your heart and listen to what you may be invited to release and let go. It might be throwing away a bunch of that stuff that is cluttering your bedroom or office, it might be releasing some pain or trauma from a childhood experience, it might be clearing a desk or leaving a job or a relationship. It might just be getting clear and accepting this journey of the seasons of our lives. I guarantee you, it is not always easy, but as you release old wardrobes, old ideas of how things ought to be, or who you should be or what they tell you success looks like; you are blessed with a whole new vision of how things really are. And you can embrace the reality of your new self, in the lens of love, lighter, and brighter and full of vision for the future. It is okay. Let the leaves fall.