sweet relief

happy equinox!

I've been noticing light lately...or just seeing it in a different way. I think it has everything to do with the subtle change in the air that I am feeling. Although it isn't the kind of crisp, cool air that I desperately dream of...there is a change. The temperatures dropped down into the double digits this past week...clouds have lingered around the past few mornings...making my tea and coffee pots work tirelessly to bring me delight in the early hours of the morning. The night creeps in on us much earlier these days...and the mornings seem to stumble along into existence. I can feel a very definite change in our energies as we open up our time and day to greater possibilities. The air changes and so do our lives...we are starting to venture outside a great deal more...thinking more expansively about what our play can entail...our minds are opening up a bit more with each day that allows for us to feel significantly more comfortable beneath the grand blue above. It feels like we are inhaling more...breathing in...living lighter...shifting perspective. This means that when the day does come along...the moments seem to take on new life. I think about other people in different parts of the world and wonder about the way the air feels on their skin...I wonder if they long for the light that seems to shine on in our small corner of the world. I am seeing the light around me from a new angle...I like that it isn't blaring down on me...but rather offering itself in a much more gentle way...still proudly and confidently...but more tenderly. It peeks through trees and dances upon water and shines on our skin through rectangular windows...it passes through prisms, urging us to chase rainbows on our kitchen floor...we seem to be finding our shadows more and thinking of things that bring us smiles. Like morning walks that don't leave us tired and grumpy...or afternoons that become available to outdoor fun. And although we never quite experience "fall" in the way that many others do (it kind of feels like a second summer to me...one that I wrap my arms around)...it does send my thoughts towards pumpkin muffins and spiced cider and brown sweaters...and everything else that comes along with these next few months. The days are growing shorter while our hunger for play gets fed in rich and delicious ways that feel oh-so-new after these long summer months. I seems to be turning my intentions towards trying my hardest to make every moment count...which just so happens to be a wonderful attempt at living mindfully. And it shifts my energy into how we live each day and where there is room to grow and where there is a need to settle in and acknowledge the beauty in what we already know and have. I am thinking on the seasons in my life where I have found "light"...where I have been shown those precious truths that somehow brighten up my spirit in a way that shines on into every corner of my existence...and I think about this season approaching us and my heart aches for simplicity...for intimate moments with those that I love...with the courage to say "no thank you" to enough of the invitations that always happen to flood these fall months in order to open up our time and truth to the important act of just BEING...not doing. I am thinking and reading a lot about how to graciously make effort towards simplifying and minimizing the "to do" of the next three months...how to indulge more in that "light" and less in the things and activities that usually surround this season. But for now, I suppose it is just about that kind of reflection...and about the sun shining on in a quieter way...one that pulls us out into more frequent visits with nature but also sends us searching within...into the magnitude of our questions and dreams...where even the smallest ray of light makes the biggest difference.