(1 minute 30 seconds to read)

The chill came upon us. It was gripping, demanding attention. The Fall…it takes you to another place…you’re transformed…spirit moved by the cold.

I feel the air, and I get energy from the absence of energy.  I think of hiking through red and orange forests. I think of soft blankets, and cold nights sharing my warmth with another’s body intertwined with mine. I think of sipping dark, boozy beers, huddled around glowing yellow fire pits, staring through clear skies at diamond-like stars which may no longer exist…and wondering when humanity will reach them, and whether I will be alive to see it.

There’s more depth in this season.

The cold stirs you up, it brings your biology to attention, to generate warmth, to take responsibility, to keep you living! In the summer you deflect energy, cooling yourself as you bask in the warmth provided to you. And then it’s gone, and you’re left to create your own fire. And that’s what life is…Generating your own thing.

Putting something forward, making an effort, caring, promoting, motivating, loving. This is your energy going out into the world, communicated honestly, and without fear. This is life. This is our place. Look at where the equator runs, and you can see that society blossomed in the colder climates instead, not where the heat of the equator resonates.

How is it that the Fall is enlivening me while all around I watch the life of the natural world begin to shrivel and fade? As the earth leans away from the sun and we are left to power ourselves, with our own fire, a fire which is always there… if we want to use it…when we find something worth caring about more than ourselves.