We frequently identify quite closely with our moods…never the best idea on a Monday morning….
In a world where nothing is as fixed as it seems,
it comes as a great relief to discover that even the ego is impermanent
Mark Epstein, Advice not Given: A Guide to Getting over Yourself
The beauty of a mountain is that it is so much like a mountain, and of water that it is so much like water
Zen saying
Every year we have been witness to it: how the world descends into a rich mash, in order that it may resume. And therefore who would cry out
to the petals on the ground to stay, knowing, as we must, how the vivacity of what was, is married
to the vitality of what will be? I don’t say it’s easy, but what else will do
if the love one claims to have for the world be true? So let us go on
though the sun be swinging east, and the ponds be cold and black, and the sweets of the year be doomed.
Mary Oliver, Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness
To regress in a certain way is to return to origins, to step back from the battle line of existence, to remember the gods and spirits and elements of nature, including your own pristine nature, the person you were at the beginning. You return to the womb of imagination so that your pregnancy can recycle. You are always being born, always dying to the day to find the restorative waters of night. Darkness is natural, one of the life processes. There may be some promise, the mere suggestion that life is going forward, even though you have no sense of where you are headed. It’s a time of waiting and trusting. My attitude as a therapist in these situations is not to be anxious for a conclusion or even understanding.
You have to sit with these things and in due time let them be revealed for what they are.
Thomas Moore, The Dark Night of the Soul
The festival of Samhain, which is behind modern-day Halloween, marked the end of the Celtic year and of agricultural work. People followed the rhythm of nature and wound down their activity. This festival began that period of resting, and was an occasion for meeting up, for building bonfires, celebrating the harvest and for storytelling. It was felt that the gap between the material and spiritual worlds was very thin at this time. The bonfire tradition still persists in Ireland and England to this day. The Western Churches took over the importance of this date – with its themes of endings and beginnings – and added to them remembrance for those who have gone before us. So…reminders of change but also of celebration, of fully living each moment that is given to us.
We must make good use of this life for the time we have left. This brief flash of light, like the sun appearing through the clouds.
Kalu Rinpoche
In the old Celtic calendar today is the last day of the year, and the New Year begins tomorrow: Letting be and letting go are two processes that challenge us every day to accept things as they are, especially during times of change. Once we are clear about what is important in what we long for, we can recognize the issues and obstacles that are in the way. It is in this recognition that we become committed to sacrificing or releasing the obstructions that impede the actualization of our longing. These conscious sacrifices simultaneously purify our longings and provide a means for them to manifest. These lessons of living and being human – of harvest, of letting be and letting go – surface in the Fall as we prepare for winter and the close of the year. What did not come to fruition or what did not hold our interest may reveal where we have tricked ourselves and it shows us that it did not truly matter.We learn that what has heart and meaning for us comes into being, and that, in contrast, any ambivalence or doubt we may feel often produces inconsistent results. – or none at all . Consider now what you are harvesting in this light. At this time of the year, what are you letting go of; what are you allowing to let be; what are you harvesting? How has October revealed the treats or fruits of your labors this year? What have been the tricks or surprises of this year?
Angeles Arrien, Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life
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