Autumn Messages

Nature is always offering us something, whether it is a calm, soothing, healing energy or a subtle message for us to understand.

Here in the Northeast, we are experiencing autumn, a beautiful time of year where the trees and bushes transform into the gorgeous colors that they are. 

The trees are magnificent in all their different shades of red, orange and yellow. If we would have that box of 64 Crayola crayons, it would give us the options to color with orange-red, red-orange, yellow-green, just to name a few.

Autumn truly gives a painter's palette of colors. If you have read My Story on my website, you would know that I had 12 years of Catholic school education which really did not offer much of an opportunity for art.

As a quiet act of rebellion and also following my heart, I majored in art in college. Here the painter's palate would be cadmium yellow, cadmium red, yellow ochre, burnt orange, burnt sienna, burnt umber, colors that I had never heard of before I took an oil painting class. 

Not only did all the names expand my awareness but oil paints were all about mixing the colors and working with them on the canvas. Oil paints don't dry quickly so you have plenty of time to blend the colors.

Majoring in art also included taking all the different art history classes and learning about the masters and their use of light and shadow and the many different styles throughout the centuries. It required trips to the different art museums in the area. I grew up in Queens, so I had access to all the museums in Manhattan. 

Now I live upstate New York, and I am surrounded by nature's art all the time. 

I was cutting back on the echinacea flowers that had completed their life cycle and I heard a different sound behind me, not a mechanical sound of a leaf blower, but something more gentler. 

As I stood up and turned around I saw all of the leaves falling off of one tree in the neighbor's yard. And then as the quiet wind made its way to my garden, all of the leaves from one of my tulip trees started gently cascading down. 

Watching trees drop their leaves can be so mesmerizing with the combination of the gentle sound it makes as well as seeing the leaves falling so gracefully and twirling in the wind. 

This brings the message of letting go of things that have served you well but now are done, letting go gently, easily and gracefully. 

As I admire the fall foliage, I also notice that there are some trees that have completely dropped all their leaves. There are other trees that are in their full glorious autumn colors now and then there are also the trees that are just beginning to change their colors.

When we observe Mother  Nature, we can get messages from her.  In this case, every tree has their own time of letting go. We noticed this and we don't judge it. We completely accept it. This is the way we should also be with our fellow humans. 

We're all on our own individual paths towards the same goal, letting go of what we no longer need, resting and then rising up into our full glory of the humans we are meant to be.  Remember to let nature help you. All of the elements bring us an energy to help us, just as the sun and the water  nurtures all the trees, bushes and flowers.

Every day brings us something slightly different, sometimes barely noticeable. Look for the subtle changes. These observations not only connect us more with the world but also activate our own inner awareness and knowing.