… autumn is a particularly interesting time, especially for trees, the ferocity with which leaves drop off, some trees take it better than others. You walk past a once full leafy tree with a beautiful crown and it is bare and bald as can be. A few trees thrive better like Evergreen trees that rarely shed any leaves. But generally most face the same plight.
Experts have advised that trees shed their leaves as a process to preserve and conserve resources. They do it to protect themselves from being blown over. They drop the leaves they can not support with the available soil moisture, especially the brown and old leaves. It is a strategy to survive harsh weather conditions.
I have always wondered if trees have feelings (I guess they don’t) but if they do, how those it feel to be scanty and way lighter. How do they cope and manage the unattractiveness that ensues, how do they hold it together until new leaves start sprouting again.
In a sense, I believe humans go through a similar process. We go through our ‘Autumn’ in life when things drop off, people drop off from our life. Sometimes it is a harsh Autumn. Parents move on to yonder, we loose contact or connections with friends, loved ones are no longer in love with us. Colleagues move on etc. Some people we have to deliberately drop off to conserve resources. Like the trees we do not have enough ‘moisture’ to absorb their dramas. Our life feel very bare, sparse and lonely, we are balding in the open view of the whole world. We are not sure how to handle the Autumn season of our life. Our once leafy and full crown is shedding rapidly and we are thinning out. It is truly a scary season!
But a ‘season’ it is! As long as we understand this and can hold on to this truth then we can weather the storm, ride the waves without being blown away, knowing that sooner or later the season will be over, winter will come, the dropping off will stop, but it will still be cold before Spring and then life will come back to us. We will get back the spring in our step. The old brown leaves are gone, as long as we open ourselves to the new season, as new green leaves grow again on the tree, so our lifes will flourish with new fulfilling relationships and adventures.
We long for the old brown leaves because of the emptiness, the void, the effect of the wind on our branches and trunk, we feel it all to our core and we long for shelter, softening, comfort, refuge, redress name it, comfort will come, but we need to sit it out, endure the harshness of the elements on us and then we are ready for new green leaves, not pasting back brown old leaves, that wouldn’t do, some relationships are similar, they were once green and lush, but now arw old and brown and dropping off but we are busy holding on for dear life, we must let go and embrace the new freshness that is to come.
Hold on, hold tight, for Autumn is just a season! Your full crown will be back.
Beautiful Ivory 