A Lesson of Fall: The Paradox of Consistency and Change

This is the time of the year when we feel the changes that autumn bring.

There is a coldness in the morning air, which can feel a little bracing and strange on the skin after the often scorching hot summer that we have had in California this year.

The leaves start to change colors. There is that wonderful, unique rust-red shade that one sees at this time of year. To me, it is one of nature’s exceptional colors that no artist nor paint company has or can imitate.

I wonder, in the case of people, are changes and transitions so easily perceived, felt or understood. It is said that we change with every decade. We hope that we become stronger and wiser with the passage of time. Life experiences can be sweet; and there are also those that impart the lesson that life doesn’t always follow a linear, step-by-step path that we were taught to believe that it would.

Sometimes, we don’t really like the changes that we perceive in us. And at times we just ignore them as that’s the easiest things to do.

Maybe, fall teaches us the paradox of consistency and change. We know that the days will become shorter; we reach out for our sweaters and our armor of mood enhancers as we face those fall days when it is dark at 5 pm.

Mingled with this predictability is the realization that the year is about to end, and the pensiveness that comes with this realization. A brand new year looms. This question comes up, consciously or unconsciously: am I closer, or further away from the goals and values that I seek?

Fall and winter days are somewhat hard for me as I need lots of sunlight to function at an optimum pace. But I hope I’m getting better at negotiating and managing this season. In this decade of my life, I want to try to practice, and not just mouth, the adage to “live in the moment”. And I want to strive to be the person living out my philosophy of life, despite the perceptions of others and my own roadblocks.

I know I’ll miss the hot weather. Perhaps it will help if I focus on the colors and tastes of fall. This year, I will try to embrace fall, for there is no getting around nature’s calendar. That’s just the way it is.