Embracing Autumn: A Season of Reflection and Renewal

Notice that Autumn is more a season of the soul than of nature.

Friedrich Nietzsche

I’m anticipating cooler weather later this week. I believe fall is in the air. Autumn is never a sure thing in Colorado. Some years it seems we go directly from summer to winter. I’m always sad to miss autumn. It provides that slow, lazy slide into the harsh days of winter.

I anticipate listening to, Autumn Leaves by Nat King Cole on the record player. Sipping Orange Spice tea and sitting in front of the fireplace with a favorite book. Rosamunde Plicher’s, September is my go to reading at this time of year. I bought it when it was first published in 1990 and I can’t count the times I’ve read it. Pilcher’s intuitive portrayal of women of a certain age is refreshing. She really does get us. Her writing is honest and relatable.

Finding myself in the autumn of my life I feel a kinship to the season. It is a time of endings and new beginnings. Sadness for what is over and hope for what is to come. It is a time of introspection. Examining one’s soul. In a broader context, looking at our thoughts and feelings. We have a finite amount of time to accomplish what is important to us. The clock is ticking and the chimes ring in our ears. The luxury of waiting is over.

We find ourselves in Nietzsche’s season of the soul. It speaks to our essence and asks us to look deeper. A time to burrow within and luxuriate in the warmth of the days we are in.