These photos were taken in my garden. The first two earlier this year in May, around Beltane at the height of the great potency of the life force when growth and blooming surround us. The second two were taken this morning, early September when we can no longer ignore the change and endings that are all around us in Nature. Mother Earth's great wisdom shows us that we must accept the inevitability of change if we are to move forwards. Summer does not continue in perpetuity. Autumn always arrives. The verdant greens of May and June slowly recede giving way to the browns and oranges of Autumn as leaves and flowers die as the Earth moves towards her Winter sleep. Autumn Equinox is approaching and balance will be restored but right now balance feels far away, the changes in Nature all around us feel sudden and brutal.
How do you handle change? Endings which must be accepted and embraced to make space for new beginnings? It isn't easy. When things are good we naturally want to hold on to what is precious, to grasp it and not let it go. But let it go we must. Buddhist wisdom shows us that the only constant in life is change, that the only reality is groundlessness, and security is only ever a delusion. I feel this most keenly at the end of summer. I am aware of the struggle within me that does not want to accept change, that wants things to stay the same. In my life now, this September, the biggest change I am presented with is my eldest son moving away to University. I celebrate this with every fibre of my being but letting go is hard! I have no answers other than continuing to work with myself on what I know to be the truth of groundlessness, impermanence and the inevitability of change and offer to you today some words of wisdom from others:
"He who binds himself to a joy, does the winged life destroy.
He who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in Eternity's sunrise."
William Blake
And
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference."
Sending blessings to you all today.
