How Are You Falling?
Fall is the time for colder weather you say, well, that is eventually, at least for those of us in the Bay Area with our Indian Summer. As we begin to leave behind one of the hottest summers in California, in particular, the Bay Area with its record breaking temperatures, muggy days and thunderstorms and as we’ve watched and witnessed hurricanes, earthquakes and fires impact our planet, I pose this question…How are you Falling? What do I mean? Why am I asking this? Well there is the casual way of touching base after being in the first month of Fall, with a little pun intended but you know this question begs an opportunity to go a little deeper.
As so many of us have been experiencing, I’ve been witnessing the “climate” on our planet both with the weather and the humanity and have felt sadness. Since the Equinox we’ve had Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and the news is filled with stories of hate and feeling shamed and/or abused and so many other tragedies. Personally, I’ve been experiencing as close as firsthand, without being evacuated but packed and ready to go, the Northern California Fires. Living in Petaluma, we were surrounded by multiple fires, at one point, from the North, East and South. Even though we were essentially in a safe zone, we were encouraged on the fourth night to be prepared in case the winds picked up and/or changed direction and an evacuation was necessary.
I know this might sound crazy but I love living in earthquake country versus hurricanes and tornadoes because I prefer to have things just happen than go through the scenarios in my head about “what if” so I was challenged with the “waiting game”. Yet, as I went through our belongings that night, choosing to grab certain memories and helping my 6-year old daughter through that process as well, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to prepare when so many of our neighbors that surrounded us did not have the time for that and have lost everything. In addition, when I thought about leaving my “stuff” to possibly be absorbed by fire, I was reminded that the memories are in my head, that my being and my body would be intact and that I could walk away from all else physical but the idea of that was uncomfortable.
This whole experience, I’m now referring to this entire month of stories, as well as the fires, in other words, this very challenging time, has provided each individual soul, family, local community and the extended community throughout the Bay Area, this state, our nation and the entire planet, the gift of the moment and an opportunity for surrender. I always believe everything happens for a reason and I will hold onto my belief now and continue to have faith that all this will show its purpose in time, if it is no more than just the understanding that all life is fragile and we are here to learn and grow.
My heart and love goes out to this North Bay community, as I write this on day eleven since the beginning of this journey, we all continue to ask for prayers of rain, containment and loving energetic support. In my home, we are out of danger, unpacked and other than the challenge of difficult air, we are safe and our home is untouched.
How are you living with the goings-on of our planet and in our global consciousness? How does it impact your own stability? Do you feel like you are falling or are you grounded? I’m back to the question at hand and this way I ask it relating to how you see yourself in life.
The season of Fall or Autumn is an opportunity for letting go. With all that we have to experience on our planet, this season, different from the others, asks us to be physically and metaphorically in the space of allowing since we do not have a choice, as the weather temperatures drop and the leaves fall from the trees we are asked to be in the change.
Back to the question of how are you falling, I propose that we can fall consciously or unconsciously. How is that, you ask? Well, when we decide to let go, then we will fall and that is the conscious version. We are relaxed, we go with the flow. We are able to observe and not be attached or affected in a way that is paralyzing, we go down stream and this is because we consciously chose to do so. When we internalize the outside experiences, then we are sucked in, not able to tear away, we take on what does not belong to us and we fall unconsciously because what we are experiencing is that we are stuck, strapped in or caught up, the falling is happening anyway but we are trying to cling, hold on or go back up stream, we feel that we don’t have a choice so it’s an unconscious experience because we did not put it in motion, it just happened.
Another aspect of falling consciously is that we are often more prepared for the unexpected outcome. We know that something will come from the journey of letting go and that may bring up excitement, curiosity, feelings of hope or expectations of learning and growth but unconscious falling is often fraught with inner torment because the fear of the unexpected is harder to deal with.
What can you do to bring more allowance into this journey of unfolding and evolving that is your life? How can you allow the imbalances of the external experiences to be outside of you and choose what you bring into your internal consciousness? How can you surrender, maybe just a little more?
This wonderful season, it happens to be my favorite, that brings pumpkins, playfulness and prioritizes gratitude also provides a beautiful opportunity to bring surrender and “letting go” into your being.