Shakedown Season: That’s just what time it is in the Falll

19 Sep Shakedown Season: That’s just what time it is in the Falll

Shakedown Season: That’s just what day it is. Fall is coming to help you let go, especially if it’s hard. Image: Mt. Wilson Autumn by Artefotograf

Shakedown Season: That’s just what time it is in the Fall

It’s shakedown season: That’s just what time it is.  Time to let go of whatever you’d like to let go of–and know that you may be called to let go of more than that.

This season is brought to you by the aptly named Fall. That’s what’s shaking right now: your leaves. And falling.

“Get Off Me” Season

A great post on NPR makes plain that wind’s not the primary mover and shaker this season. The trees themselves are.

Instead of calling this season “The Fall,” if trees could talk they’d call this the “Get Off Me” season.

Around this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, as the days grow shorter and colder…changes trigger a hormone in leaf-dropping trees that sends a chemical message to every leaf that says…“Time to go! Let’s part company!”

The wind is only helping.

What Kind of Tree Are You?

Maybe you never let go of anything. Maybe you’re not a deciduous (leaf-dropping) tree.

But I know I am. I can’t wait, each year, to let what wants to die, die.

Die before you die

is not just good advice to Muslims, but to us all. We have seasons, too. How to do it?

Consider Fall Your Wind

Consider Fall your “wind”. Use it to help you drop your leaves. Especially at the Fall Equinox. The day or evening of the Equinox is a perfect time to do your own ritual of letting go. (Your own ritual can be a half-hour you set aside at your favorite cafe to list what you’re shaking off and offering up, or it can also involve candles, a long bathe, or a raging bonfire. It’s up to you.)

Clean Out the Basement Now

“Die before you die” is like saying “clean out your basement now.” You know how much easier it is when an elder loved dies if while they were alive, their funeral details were planned, and their basement was cleaned out?
That’s what I’m talking about.

That’s what time it is: use the force of this season to clean you out inside, and plan to be at least a little less attached to the things of this life. I don’t care how old you are. It’s not about that. The cleaner you are inside, the more transparent to the light that wants to shine through you. The emptier you are, the much much easier it is to be filled. The more space you offer yourself, the more your Self can fill it.

That’s what I’m talking about. Time for a shakedown this season; let it come, let all your dead leaves blow away. As the NPR post says,

leaves are basically the kitchen staff of a tree….they make the food that helps the tree grow and thrive and reproduce.

But in winter,

the leaves will be caught with water in their veins, freeze and die. So instead of a food staff that’s resting, the tree is stuck with a food staff that’s dead. And when spring comes, the permanent help will be no help. The tree will die.

Now do you get me? “Die before you die.” It’s not just Nature’s law and a spiritual law: it’s truly a good idea.