SEASONS CHANGE: ABUNDANCE AND RELEASE

We officially entered autumn at the Equinox on September 21. Though the days are still warm, I’m sure you can feel the chill in the early morning and evening air. I hear the geese flying over my house in the morning and though some of them have decided to hang around beautiful Marin County full time, others are migrating south in preparation for winter.

Autumn is always a time of letting go, with the falling leaves as our best teachers of how to do it so gracefully. Did you know that it is generally true that spores for the new leaf that will emerge in the spring is already in place when the old leaf is released?

Autumn is also harvest time and an official time of giving thanks for our abundance with our national Thanksgiving holiday. It is a good time to take stock of what we have harvested in our own personal and work lives. What did we sow? What are we reaping? What do we need to gracefully let go of?

In my own life, I am having an enormous “letting go” experience as I say good-bye to my dear friend, neighbor, and secretary of more than several decades, Leda.

My reaction to this loss has been deep, deep grief, as well as a taking stock of the enormous abundance that Leda has brought to me through her generosity of spirit, calm countenance, and amazing organizational skills. She straightened me out on a regular basis and helped me bring order to my periodic chaos. Leda started out doing child care for my younger son and came to work in my office ten years ago, when he was too old for a babysitter. She has been instrumental in helping me manage my personal life, so that I could be more available to my professional responsibilities. So, I have enormous gratitude for her years of service with me.

Meanwhile, I thought you all might be interested to hear about Leda’s own letting go and migration. As she and her husband leave Novato, they will have let go of most of all of their worldly possessions in order to move to Northern Africa to provide disaster relief and human needs projects in the various countries in that region.

Since 1996, they have been traveling to Northeast Africa to do such work as restoring and repairing water cisterns, assessing needs in regional hospitals, providing wheelchairs they made using plastic lawn chairs and rollerblade wheels, consulting with women regarding firewood problems, bringing drought resistant seeds for farmers, immunizing goats and camels, and providing childcare for medical relief workers so that they could attend an educational conference. One time, Leda’s husband cared for six infants in a modest hotel room, while she managed all the other children in another hotel room. Can you imagine volunteering your time to babysit on the other side of world? Not all of their projects were successful. We have laughed about the time Leda’s husband learned how to artificially inseminate turkeys. There are food shortages in Northern Africa and it was hoped that increasing the turkey population would provide an ongoing source of food. He only inseminated a few turkeys, thankfully, because they actually died from the shock of it! Not all our attempted good works pan out.

So, set aside some time this fall to take inventory of what you will harvest this year in your personal life, your work life, and your spiritual life. Ask yourself why these seeds you planted grew. Ask why some things did not grow. What, if anything, needs to be done about any of it? Then, be sure to take stock of the abundance we all enjoy. Oh yes! Even in the face of financial reverses, we are amazingly blessed.

On another note, I have decided not to offer any more workshops or retreats for 2008. The Women’s Retreat in the spring was wonderful. Keith Arnold and I are already collaborating and planning events for 2009. So, stay tuned.

Meanwhile, many blessings on your journey through the remainder of 2008.