Autumn has wonderful colours and a very soothing energy that is very conducive for women to reconnect with their body and feminine essence. In autumn, when Nature starts slowing down, the temperature gets cooler and the daylight starts reducing, we tend to slow down our social activities and spend more time at home. This is not obviously a rule and many of us have full on working rhythms, but deep in our heart and body we tend to feel a desire to follow Nature and reduce our speed. It might not always be possible to do this, but if we stop and check in with ourselves and are honest with the way we feel deep inside, we might feel this longing for letting our leaves go and die in the ground like trees do in this season. Our society might not follow the natural rhythms, but our bodies feel them anyway and, if we ignore them long enough, our immune system starts getting weak and we become more prone to colds and flu, what we call the season sicknesses.
The gifts of autumn
Have you ever paid attention to your body’s call? I am sure that it must have happened to you at least once in your life to have had to slow down in this season, maybe because of external constraints, sickness or any other issue; do you remember how you felt? I do, I felt I was entering a different dimension and felt more connected with Nature. Slowing down made me feel more joyful and appeased inside and my mind became more grounded. I started feeling my emotions, thoughts and desires more and started opening up to a dimension that normally is shut down. There are many gifts awaiting us, if we follow the impulse to slow down and become more reflective, especially in autumn. When we are in a hurry and just follow our next move, task, chore, duty, it is very difficult to seize the moment, it is impossible in fact! Why not try and experiment with our big mentor, Nature itself, to synchronize our body with it and see what happens? As women we go through different ‘inner seasons’ and energies during the month due to our female cycle, either we are aware of it or not. Our ‘inner autumn’ corresponds to our pre-menstrual week and during it we feel an urge to slow things down and pay attention more to our desires and inclinations. If we don’t do that, we can become short tempered and particularly outspoken about the way we feel and think and we might be more direct than in any other week of the month. As the outer energy and temperature are cooling down, we feel more prone to cool down as well and let the world rush off without bothering too much that we might miss the train … What if slowing down were the right thing to do for us too? What if there is no train to catch out there, but we might miss the most important meeting with ourselves, if we keep following the rest of the world? Why not give it a go and see what happens?
Nature sheds its skin so to speak in Autumn, as the trees lose their leaves, plants lose their flowers and the ground gets harder, because of the drop in temperature. As a consequence, we need more sleep and want to be cosy and warm at home. Different thoughts peep up in our mind and we possibly start thinking about winter. We might feel a resistance inside and mourn the fact that Summer is over and the cold weather is approaching. It is natural to feel this way and, if we indulge in it a bit without making us feel guilty, we might start feeling an inner joy and a sense of relief for having more opportunity to rest and slow down. As there is a great pleasure in doing things, seeing people and being out in the world connecting and celebrating life as we do in Summer, there is also a wholesome feeling of completion in reflecting about it all and reviewing things in Autumn. By letting things be and pulling our oars in the boat and reducing our speed we can admire the view and notice all those great details that we missed by being so active in Summer. There is a great sense of relief and freedom in being in sync with Nature!
This season is feminine because it helps us to feel more nurturing and caring than in any other season. It is a feminine prerogative to nurture others and ourselves and it becomes much easier to do this when there is less to do outside. Being connected with our feelings and inner moods is also a feminine quality that invites us to explore our inner world and our dark side. It is in our lower/darker world that we rejuvenate and we discover what motivates us. Our light is fed by our darkness and in it we find our roots. It is a rhythmic process that if followed and honoured makes us grow and brings richness in our life. It is the lack of activity that allows us to heal our wounds and resolve our issues, rather than diving into a frenzy of action! This autumn allow yourself to feel more rather than do more and see how you can honour your femininity by slowing things right down and grant yourself some leisure time just to play and rest. Go out and enjoy the magical mist that wraps trees, bushes, animals and hills around and feel it coming into your soul too and accept its magic. If you do so, you might feel richer just for the fact that you place yourself first rather than everybody else. You will feel more inclined to nurture others once your tank is full and you feel wholesome and abundant again. Self-love and silence could be the secrets that you have always overlooked and considered redundant. You might find that self-love and silence might make your stress redundant and you feel like jumping into the flow of life again.
