Cycles

It’s a beautiful fall day. I have just finished an exercise in futility as I try to gather leaves. The wind rattles through the dry leaves, leaves fall in a cascade of yellows, reds and browns and all this color is under a canopy of a clear blue sky.  There is now a bit more brown and grey to each day. Winter is coming.
 
People ask me how can I deal with death on a day-to-day basis. It really is a matter of perspective. I see death as a transition. I see each of us as a spirit using our carbon-based bodies as vehicles that enable our consciousness and perception of this material world. What a gift!
 
The first law of thermodynamics states that matter is never lost, only transformed. Of course, I also see death as loss, but mostly to those left behind. Separation is pain. Most of mankind throughout the ages has believed in an existence after death. That very fact is interesting; I think it’s because nature herself tells us the story of transition and cycles.
 
As I sit watching the leaves do their dance, nature tells me that nothing stays the same.  It is now fall, a time of decline from vibrancy. Life slows and winter buries the brown decay of autumn under a deep white slumber. We endure the cold, make snow angles and listen to the hush of the forest.
 
Nature is merely reflecting our own journey through life. We all experience our falls and our winters. It is spring that allows me to process all the death I see. The renewing, the resurrection, the surge of energy of that which was decayed gives way to new life. We are the budding plant, we are the face looking up at the summer sun, we are the aging person walking the autumn path, and we are the sleep of winter, once again ready to rise like a Phoenix with wings spread wide-open; transformed but never lost.
 
Enjoy the fall and listen to nature as she embodies our transitions. Understanding these cycles gives more enlightenment to each moment.