The sun is beginning to dip below the horizon, giving everything gold and pink highlights. I stand there on the deck and feel the mixture of the air, both cool and warm, in an atmospheric thermocline. Gently, leaves float to the ground until their yellow confetti covers the fading green grass below. I wrap my left arm around my right, close my eyes and breathe in. I inhale a breath which is rich in a musky fall scent lightly laced with the smoke of a fire lit in someone's hearth.
It is as if the wind is ushering in the transition. At this time of year we are finishing the harvest and preparing the lands so that they might bear good crops in the spring. Even I in my garden have pulled the last of the tomatoes and cleared out the dead vegetation. In Sanskrit wind or Pavana is also known as a purifier and somehow this resonates with me. This process of preparation is almost like purifying the land in establishing a new foundation. A foundation for new growth.
I stand there a moment longer and think about how the competing temperatures of the wind echo the conflict of this time of year. The time when summer has long transitioned into fall but still seems to have a hard time letting go. Sometimes you need to let things go and get rid of the dead parts to allow new growth to prosper. I realize just how important this is in my own life; within my own journey to rediscovering who I am and what is most important to me.
