Growing up in Connecticut, fall was my favorite season.  The colors, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the drier air, and Macoun apples were among the enticements.  Over time, and after living for 20 years in warm climates from the desert to the tropics, and then resuming residence in the East – this time in Rochester, spring emerged as my “favorite”.

Spring is emergent, life-affirming, a breath of fresh air, replete with fragrant beauty, softening the rigidity of body as it relaxes in warmer temperatures, melting the snow and ice which at times, though stunning in their stark, crystalline sparkles, hold both their own treachery and benefits. Spring lengthens the light of days, brightens the darkness of dread and renews growth and bursts of creative energy.

Autumn is yet beautiful and compelling– even with its bitter-sweetness, even as it forebodes of cold and early nightfall.  The magnificence of colors shout, Glory!  Behold!  Change is imminent, constant, and can still take our breath away!  The changes are sometimes gradual – a few leaves ripening to new splendor against a backdrop of green, an occasional falling leaf, a few degrees drop in temperature.  In stages, we are treated to the facets of fall.  Other times, an arctic wind blasts in or a rainstorm sheds the leaves of trees swiftly, bearing branches before they have had time to reach their peak or give of their fullness to their own capacity and our pleasure.  We human beings are sometimes confronted with the suddenness of change, forced to adapt to circumstances before we, too, might be ready.  Will our limbs crack with the first snow, wind, or ice?  Or will they embrace our vulnerability?

In part, our response to the season is influenced by how we direct our attention.  Are we able to appreciate the beauty and offerings of each time of year, despite the losses each one represents from the previous one?  Can we hold in awareness the difficulties we have without letting them negate the blessings around us?  Neuroscience and spiritual traditions have taught us well that we can increase our continual happiness and our ability to hold in equanimity the dark and light, the joyful and sorrowful, by training our minds to observe, let go, feel gratitude, and to recognize the inevitability of and opportunities inspired by change.

As we grow in acceptance of all things, we are better able to help others on their journey, as they walk through the seasons of their lives, whether there is a spring in their step or they are falling like the brittle leaves of autumn.  A tree is still a tree, whether it is unfurling new leaves or letting them float to the ground until its limbs are fully exposed to the elements.  Person to person, whatever our place on life’s path, it is an honor to share our human essence.

It is a privilege for me to work with people who entrust me to help them through the difficult seasons of their lives, to reach a place of hope, to have confidence that their sad, broken times will yield again to brighter days, softer hearts, wholeness, and peace.

Thanks to you who invite me to assist you; to you who support the health and welfare of others, and to you who make referrals to me for mediation or for my individual services to bring people to a place where healing may begin and change may be gently accepted.