Category Archives: hope

Winds and Words of Autumn

Connie L Cousins's avatar

Quotation”The leaves are about to show us how lovely it is to let the dead things go.” (Anonymous)

My thoughts turned to things I have had to let go in the past and those still ahead. I know that I have forgiven and hopefully forgotten an event, only to have it rear its ugly head again. I’m referring to slights many years past that should have been buried like the trash that they were. With prayers and the experience of a long life, I send the bad vibes packing and clear my head.

Who can remain upset when the leaves rattle as you walk along, kicking those that have already fallen? I feel the urge to drive to a farm market just to view the bright produce and the fruit piled high in the baskets. I am awaiting the full press of color for the trees and will thrill with every section of my view that lights up in the sunlight.

We’ve had enough rain for a while, but soggy days also have their appeal. When the wind blows rain against the windows in October and November, suddenly one is more content to wrap in that throw that’s waiting on the sofa and just settle. Settle your body and your mind and appreciate the season.

View of colorful autumn foliage and rolling hills from a balcony railing against a clear blue sky.

How do you feel about fall weather?

See you next time. Connie’s Comments and Verse

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Autumn’s Awe Moments

“Fall, leaves fall; die, flowers, away; lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me. Fluttering from the autumn tree” —Emily Bronte, Fall, Leaves, Fall

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I took this tonight and had to save it with dozens of other sunsets I have taken. I never get tired of them.

How do you feel about the fall season? Some are invigorated and happy with the cooler weather. Others feel an uncomfortable nagging feeling of sadness. Is it that plants and grasses are dying and soon the landscape will be bare and brown? The cold is approaching and for me there is an expectation of warm blankets, cozy slippers and hibernating with good books. There is a wonderful warmth that greets you when you come in from picking up groceries, shoveling your car out of a drift or taking a walk in the white beauty of a new snowfall.

For some, fall signals the onset of Season Affective Disorder or SAD. My mother always said the fall made her sad and I didn’t quite understand until I got older. I get it now—in some ways we are more alone, more shut in as winter sets in. We really tasted the stark aloneness during the pandemic. I’m privileged to live where I can find others to talk to, play games with, if I choose. But it is good to know that if I need help, there are neighbors who would come if I called.

So as we lean into fall, I pray you find the peace in the beauty of the land, and are invigorated by coolness and the beginning of a new season. Don’t shut yourself in. Find things that are fun and that keep you engaging with other people.