Strong Calm…A Season of Change

“Each day is a gift…Open with joy”

Fall is such a beautiful time of year. It’s when Mother Nature takes out her richly colorful pallet and paints for us in the most beautiful shades, tones and hues. We capture this season’s beauty on our iPhones and cameras and, if you’re the artistic type, you take out your paint brushes, canvas,  or color pencils and sketch pads and capture its beauty through your creative lens. Fall is also a time of shedding, falling leaves and is synonymous with the art of letting go. Fall brings with it many holidays commencing in September through the end of the year. It’s also a time of year that people tend to get sad, miss their loved ones who have passed on,  send young children off to school for the first time or even off to college leaving them to be empty nesters, or are simply wallow in the fact that life isn’t exactly how they “expected” it to be.

Fall months have been a time of a lot of loss in my life and lots of endings, especially in the month of October. I had not yet given this much thought this year until last week when I was in yoga. My teacher passed out cards and instructed each one of us to pick a card. The card I pulled read Strong Calm. Hmmm, I found this to be quite interesting. I placed it down on my yoga mat and decided to remain open to whatever arose throughout my practice. At some point, it hit me. I set the intention to take a different approach and outlook on the fall season this year. Rather than be reminded of the many losses and allow myself to get funky and sad, I decided to approach this time of year with a “Strong Calm”  much like yoga – grounded, rooted, inner calmness and a strong core. In doing so, I can shift my perspective and look and all the beauty, abundance, miracles,  magic and wealth, and wisdom that has shown up in my life after losing my parents, selling my Florida sanctuary, putting down my beloved Blackie-Mama, ending relationships, having surgeries and ending my career.

When we take the time to reflect and count our blessings, we have the opportunity to carefully examine our life, choices we’ve made, their outcome, people who’ve come into our lives and others who are no longer part of it. The lessons we’ve learned become crystal clear. More importantly though, we are able to see the richness and fullness of our lives. We see the depth, scope and significance of the relationships we have with our friends and loved ones as well as the relationship we have with our Self.  We appreciate the beauty that surrounds us and gain an understanding of the destruction around us. We are better equipped to see the light and the dark, as well as the love and the fear. With a sense of “strong clam,” we can hold a space for all of it.  In this space, is where grace and gratitude can be found.  Gratitude opens our hearts!

By now y’all know that I’m a gratitude junkie. Gratitude is miraculous! Being grateful fills our hearts with endless amounts of love and pure joy. It is what gets us through anything we are going through, regardless of how challenging and difficult it may be. Our mindset is the key. I don’t know about you, but I am choosing to approach this beautiful Season of Change with a Strong Calm. Here’s how you can do the same: Write down the ten hardest or most terrible things that ever happened to you. As you look over the list, can you see the gifts that each of them brought? Take the time to write about each of these gifts and feel the sense of joy and gratitude that fills your heart center.

I now leave you with beautifully written piece by John O’Donohue. If I had to give it a title, it would certainly be Strong Calm:

“May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon. May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path. May the flame of anger free you from falsity. May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may anxiety never linger around you. May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul. May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention. May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul. May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

Inhale Love…Exhale Gratitude, JTC