I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

L.M. Montgomery

What’s a world of Octobers? A world of Octobers is a world of surrender, shedding, and letting go. A world of Octobers is colorful, cool, and calm. A world of Octobers is somehow wiser than a restful winter, a hopeful spring, or a jubilant summer. A world of Octobers is about harvest, bounty, and celebration.

Lesson of the Falling Leaves

the leaves believe/ such letting go is love/ such love is faith/ such faith is grace/ such grace is god/ i agree with the leaves – Lucille Clifton

I agree with the leaves, too. I believe in a deciduous journey towards Love. As we let go, have faith, and share grace, we are Love. The impermanence of falling leaves reminds me of the freedom of truth, the weightlessness of joy, the perfection of “on time”, the beauty of flaws, the clarity of loss, the strength of surrender, the courage of not yet and why. I must relearn the lessons of the falling leaves every year. The days between fall’s miracle wear my spirit down. Lost. I forget all about truth, joy, perfection, beauty, clarity, strength, and courage. Found. I remember to pay attention to falling leaves.

Autumn Leaves

The dead piled up, thick, fragrant, on the fire escape. My mother ordered me again, and again, to sweep it clean. All that blooms must fall. I learned this not from the Dao, but from high school biology. — From “Autumn Leaves” by Marilyn Chin

All that blooms must fall. All that blooms must fall. All that blooms must fall. We are asked to bloom by the voice that knows calling, passion, and desire. We must bloom and shine and thrive. Blooming means we listen to our happiness — to what our soul knows for sure — and act from that space. (Listening to our soul requires patience and practice. That is simple the truth.) As we bloom, we pay attention. As we fall, we pay attention. As we bloom, we breathe. As we fall, we breathe. As we bloom, we love. As we fall, we love. That is how is goes. Autumn leaves are both the bloom and the fall. That is philosophical and biological. That is that is spiritual and scientific.

A Necessary Autumn

You and I have spoken all these words, but as for the way/ we have to go, words// are no preparation. There is no getting ready, other than/ grace. My faults// have stayed hidden. One might call that a preparation!/ I have one small drop// of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean./ There are so many threats to it.// Inside each of us, there’s continual autumn. Our leaves fall and are blown out// over the water. A crow sits in the blackened limbs and talks/ about what’s gone. Then// your generosity returns: spring, moisture, intelligence, the scent of hyacinth and rose// and cypress. Joseph is back! And if you don’t feel in/ yourself the freshness of// Joseph, be Jacob! Weep and then smile. Don’t pretend to know// something you have not experienced.// There’s a necessary dying, and then Jesus is breathing again./ Very little grows on jagged// rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up/ where you are. You’ve been// stony for too many years. Try something different. Surrender. — Rumi

“Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.” Today I think about jagged rock and ground. About crumbling, dissolving, of being down on my knees. I think of Autumn. Knowing beyond seasons. Temporal. Impermanent. Present. That is the lesson and beauty of age. One of my favorite people in the world reminds me to bloom where I am planted. Drink life’s clear water. Till soil rich with experience and wisdom. Turn toward warm sunlight to nurture yourself and others. To bloom is to surrender. To surrender is to thrive.