October

Spirit Garden Reflections

Letting Go and Letting Be

Be still and know that I am God.

-Psalm 46:10

Welcome to the Reflection for October!

In the Celtic tradition, the season of fall is associated with the direction of the West.  It is the time of the setting sun when the work is done and it is time to yield our activities and outward energy to a period of rest and replenishment.

In the cycle of the seasons, we currently find ourselves deep in the heart of autumn.  How are we responding to the invitation to let go and let be in order to rest?  This is the topic of our Spirit Garden Reflection for this month.

So far, this year has been like no other and many of us are feeling a need to slow down, pause and take more periods of rest.  These periods of replenishment are much needed as we navigate the change and upheaval of living through a pandemic.

May this Spirit Garden Reflection offer you a time of reflection that is in harmony with the season of fall and its invitation to let go, let be, rest, and replenish.

Autumn blessings,
Kathy

We mostly spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, to do.
Yet, the fundamental verb, ‘be’ is the essence of a spiritual life.

-Evelyn Underhill, The Ways of the Spirit

Letting Go and Letting Be

The audio file below offers a short reflection on Letting Go and Letting Be.  The audio is followed by a handout with some questions that are intended to help you journal your own thoughts and experiences around this theme.

Please print these out before you listen to the audio file. You are invited to pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee and take about 20 minutes to listen to the reflection and then answer the questions.  May this be a nourishing and replenishing time of some soul tending.

Reflection Questions

Please click on the button below to download the reflection questions to go along with the reflection on Letting Go and Letting Be.

Do you have the patience to wait
til your mud settles and the water is clear?

-Tao te Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell

fall trees and river

A Song to Close Your Reflection

There is a simple prayer created from Psalm 46:10 that goes like this:

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

You may wish to meditate on the Fall image above as you listen to River’s Voice sing this prayer:

leaves

Spirit Garden Moments

Spirit Garden Moments offer a short pause in your day and an opportunity for reflection.  October is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada.  Below is a Spirit Garden Moment on Thanks-Living that includes a invitation for a thanks-living ceremony.  Enjoy! 

Thanks-Living

fall by the river

“May you walk in the center of your life in balance and abundance.”

-Dakota/Lakota saying

This season of fall is a time of harvesting and turning inward.  It is a time of celebrating the growth and produce of the summer months and now preparing for a time of replenishment and rest.  For those of us in Canada, we have just celebrated Thanksgiving which is a time of offering our gratitude for the abundance of the harvest and all the ways we are provided for.

This past week, I came across a new term that really captivated me – Thanks-Living.  After all of the celebrations of our ‘Thanks-Giving’ are over, we turn toward ‘Thanks-living’.  I love this term.  It speaks of a way of orienting ourselves toward living our gratitude every day.

As I pondered what living with thanks truly looks like in my own life, I had a sense of needing to incorporate more ceremony and ritual around my expression of gratitude.  It came to me that I needed to create a ceremony to thank the land upon which I live, the land that has been holding me and my husband for years now.   This includes the yard and the house that enfolds us in its care every day of the year.  So I took a handful of local blueberries from the fridge and walked out my front door.  I stood for a moment to centre myself and then slowly began walking around the outside my house, really looking at each element that makes this place my home.  My walk was a walk of gratitude.  With each step, I thanked the lawn, the driveway, and the gardens surrounding my house.  I knelt and left a few blueberries as an offering of thanks to each of the cedar trees around my house.  I stopped at my raised garden beds and left blueberries as my offering of thanks to the soil for growing a crop of garlic and herbs.  I left blueberries at the foundation of my home as an offering of thanks for the structure and stability that this house provides.  I gazed at the fence surrounding our yard and gave thanks for the gift of boundaries.  I looked at each window and gave thanks for the light they let into our home.

As I walked a full-circle around my home and offered thanks to this land and structure, my heart overflowed with gratitude and my eyes filled with tears.  I smiled at my apple tree and laid blueberries at her roots as I thanked her for feeding the squirrels and the deer.  The ceremony came to a close as I arrived back at my front door and I re-entered this dwelling with a deepened sense of appreciation.  Something within me had shifted and awakened to the depth of blessing it is to live here; for the shelter that is given and the beauty that is offered.  This simple ceremony brought me to the heart thanks-living.

I share this experience with you today, along with an invitation for you to join me in this simple ceremony.  May you find a moment this week to walk the land upon which your home dwells, whether you live in an apartment building, condo, duplex, or house – the invitation is to do a gratitude walk around the property and notice what shifts within you as you do.  Perhaps take an offering of birdseed, cornmeal, berries or breadcrumbs with you.  As you feel moved, lay down an offering of your gratitude to all that draws your attention.  Notice the shifts you feel inside as you allow your gratitude to flow.

Expressing our gratitude with intentional acts and ceremony brings us to the place of thanks-living.  We live our thanks and make space for our thanks to live within us.  In this way, we cultivate a dwelling place of gratitude deep in our hearts.

As this season of fall calls us to turn inward, may we do so with intentional thanks-living.  May we find that place within our hearts that recognizes the genuine abundance of our life and may we centre ourselves here.

With thanks-living blessings,
Kathy

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In Closing

This month’s Spirit Garden Reflection began with a simple breath meditation for letting go and letting be.  Below you will find an audio file of this meditation that you can come back to whenever you need to create a pause in your day to simply BE.

As we journey through this season of fall, may you find moments to pause, let go, and find your centre.  May these moments of rest and renewal create fertile ground for new insights and growth to emerge.

With love and blessings,
Kathy

leaves
Kathy by the Ocean

Connect & Share

Please share any comments about this Reflection in the comments below. Make sure to check out what others are posting and encourage each other!

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