Right now, my feed is blessed with the coming of spring for many writers and readers on Substack. However, many of us are also experiencing the very opposite - autumn, yet I haven’t seen many posts detailing the beauty of the season or the preparation for the colder months to come. So, please, enjoy.
Also, a big thank you to those of you who have recently subscribed or followed, and who continue to support me. I truly cherish every single one of you.
As a young girl my lovely mother would tell me the story of a Buddhist monk who had become so close to enlightenment over the span of his previous lives that in his present one, when he saw a leaf fall from a tree, that experience was enough for him to finally attain a sense of true inner peace, also known as nirvana.
Every autumn since, when the leaves change colour, curl and fall, I’m reminded of this story and the innumerable meanings that can be attributed to even the simplest of nature’s gifts. Although I am still wary of winter and the need to burrow away and grimly face life wind-and-rain battered, I adore autumn. Perhaps partly for that story. I love the golden haze of afternoon sun, the change in the very air itself, and of course, the brilliant multicoloured leaves.
While I cannot say I’ve been enlightened watching a single leaf fall, (and I imagine I must’ve seen hundreds if not thousands at this point), I can deeply empathise with the beauty of the experience. For me a falling leaf symbolises a life narrative; accepting change with grace - flowing with, not against, the path of nature.
Accepting change with grace
A falling leaf is undeniably a graceful act, the unique swish, and way it carves through the air, only to fall to the ground. It is serendipitous. However, some people may think falling leaves are ugly, bothersome or wasteful - much preferring leaves to linger on trees far longer than to accept them bare and littering the garden. But the fact is, as the autumn change is set in motion, it marches on and is unaltered by our wishes Change in life is much the same. It is marches on, our desires, thoughts and wishes unheeded. From the moment we are born, life flows and progresses like a river that ends at the sea. Our lives change as rapidly and fluidly as water flowing up banks, around rocks and swirling through bends.
Our attempts to influence, mitigate or avoid parts of change while may alter the substance are futile in attempting to deny the inevitability of change itself. Change is undeniable. It is relentless, all-encompassing and impossible to be immune from. Change is as much part of life as breath, laughter or tears. So, if we cannot change the fact that change exists, perhaps we should learn to accept it truly into our heart. Like a leaf flowing down the river, rather than a stick caught in the mud.
Like life, nature has its cycles and paths, whether it be the weather patterns, the rising and setting of the sun rises, of the push and pull of the ocean. They are uncontrollable, sometimes unpredictable and may change just when we have become accustomed to them. For me this is a direct reflection of life, we may become familiar with our circumstances only to have them change in a fleeting heartbeat.
If we can accept that change is inevitable, like a falling leaf, we can learn how to process it, truly accept it and how to build our resilience in navigating it. As we accept autumn as a season we experience every year, we make time to observe the falling leaves, the birds’ behaviours, the crisp air. We dig in our gardens and plant broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower to reap in the coming months. We cycle our wardrobes and dig out our sturdier jackets, coats and fluffy scarves. We accept the change. We do not sit there and beg the leaves to stay on the trees or deny the fact they fall.
The ability to handle change, especially when we perceive it to be negative, with love, openness and grace, will allow it to be far more palatable, and allow us to retain our peace and grounding throughout.
There is beauty and reassurance to be gained in observing and accepting that which is out of our control. We can learn to respond with a sense of measurement, grace, and compassion to the extremities of life, but we cannot learn to control the calamities themselves. Happiness will turn to sadness, just as sadness to happiness. Buddhism teaches us that life is a pendulum, but you will only feel the vertigo if you let it be so.
Until next time,
*Images generated using AI
This is so lovely Ava, and so beautifully written! Thank you for your wonderful reflections 🍂
When you think about it there’s nothing in our control. As we don’t get what we want when we want them.