Autumn + Letting Go
It’s (more officially) Autumn now!
Last year, I decided that Autumn is my favourite season (I absolutely reserve the right to change my mind, but for now, here we are 🙃). I love the crispy mornings and balmy afternoons, both a nod to where we are heading (Winter) and where we’ve been (Summer). And really, is there anything better than the beautiful warm colours of Autumn leaves?
In Chinese Medicine, Autumn is the time of the Metal element, the Lungs and Large Intestine. This season and these organs are very much about letting go: the leaves fall from trees, we exhale, and we 💩
It was pointed out to me very recently that letting go is less of a choice and much more of a process. It’s not as simple as clicking your fingers and saying, “and now I let go of [insert thing you wish to let go of here]”. Other things need to happen before letting go is possible. You can’t rush the process, but you CAN trust the process 😉
Much like the leaves fall from the trees each Autumn as part of the tree’s life cycle of growth and rest, and each inhale necessitates an exhale and (hopefully) we poop every day (speak to or book in with your Chinese Medicine Practitioner if this isn’t the case for you), letting go happens when it happens and is part of a coordinated series of events.
Deciduous trees release their leaves when they sense that the cold and darker months are coming, signalling their incoming dormant period, Winter. The leaves have done a big job over the Spring and Summer to help the tree accumulate resources from sunlight (thank you chlorophyll), but with cooler temperatures and shorter days, it costs the tree more to keep the leaves than the energy they can produce.
Therefore, the tree pulls from the leaves all the remaining nutrients and sheds the leaves, allowing it to better conserve energy for the Winter, as well as protect itself from potentially wild Winter weather.
To mirror this, often we come to a point after much of a journey or friction or wrestling with things, where we can clearly see that holding on is costing us too much, or blocking us, or making us feel unwell.
Hence, the process of letting go.
And look, we can make a conscious choice to cull our clothes or our paper documents or items in our homes or an experience or memory that is weighing us down, but in my experience, these only happen effectively when something clicks and the timing is “right”. In other words: you can’t force it. And additionally in my experience: whenever I have pulled out all my clothes, sorted what I’m keeping and what I’m not, and then I put everything back looking neat and tidy, it is absolutely a process. Same with sorting paper documents - last year they sat in a messy pile for literally months before one afternoon everything clicked and five hours later I had a clear desk once again (can confirm this was also a process).
My point is, note that in Nature, Autumn is a time to let go of what is not needed to prepare for a big rest in Winter (it’s impossible to create deep and rejuvenating rest if there are energy drainers still present), and see how this might mirror itself in your life (or not).
There is definitely no need to feel like you MUST let go. In my opinion (and experience), we all get there at exactly the right time for us anyway.
Happy Autumn! 🍁🍂