In this season, Nature lets go of its abundant creation of the past year in a grand final display. Leaves turn brilliant colors and drop back to the earth, enriching it to promote (nourish) the coming growth. In autumn, we can learn more about ourselves because, after a harvest, everything is bare. Autumn marks the end of the growing season, so it becomes a natural turning inward. Outer-directed energy falls away to be replaced by reflection and then creation.

Nature instructs us about the cycle of creation and letting go: Trees in autumn don’t stubbornly hold onto their leaves because they might need to wear them next year. Yet how many of us defy the cycle and hold onto what we’ve produced or collected – those decayed leaves in the form of old negativity, outdated attitudes, or fears? How can we hope for a healthy harvest next year unless we release the old, rest and start fresh with renewed focus?

The lesson of this season, more than any other, tells us to release the waste, the old, and the stale aspects of our lives in order to uncover all that is meaningful and fresh.