Project Genesis

We often think of springtime as a time of hope and new beginnings, but I believe the Fall is perfect for that. Yes, plants are in their final throws of life for the season but the winds of change begin to blow. I remember blustery dark Halloween nights from my childhood and feel the potential in my cells that lies in the Void. I think of the Void as a place of this great potential; a primordial soup with all the ingredients of life. Think Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan's "Genesis Project" that reorganized matter and grew life and you'll know what I mean. (Sorry, I'm a Trekkie.) It's the gestational period before the growth can emerge, reborn in the Spring. Now is the time to organize your inner garden. 

In the darkness of the shortening fall days that lead up to December, I find so much comfort going inside myself to recreate and reorganize matter that needs rebirthing in my life. I'm ready to reorganize the way I eat, start to exercise (again), reorganize my junk drawers, organize the courses I offer, get rid of clutter. Yet this year feels different. Is it different for you too? I'm hearing from clients, friends, family - well there are very few who haven't expressed a version of this - that everything is more intense this year and everything is changing. Jobs are being lost, careers reinvented, illnesses being faced, parents needing care, loved ones dying in a way that feels as if time is speeding up.  At the end of September I posted my video submission on YouTube for the Hay House publishing contract competition and I can already feel that I need to organize my life differently. I'm "pregnant" with a book that wants to be born on children's dreams and I'm giving the gestation nine months! But just like a physical pregnancy, I have to make the time to care for myself and care for my unborn book-baby! 

We have to prepare for our inner Fall in the same way we would get our garden ready for the change in seasons. (For those who live in the perennial Spring/Summer of the southern climates, I think you will still understand the metaphor nevertheless.) We prune back what is overgrown, divide perennials, bring in potted plants, fertilize the soil, rake, plant bulbs, protect the tender plants and on and on. For those who do more gardening than I do - which would be everyone - there is probably more to do than I've listed here. What do you want to sprout in your life in the Spring? A new course of learning or a new job? A healthier you? See what needs to be done, what needs to be de-cluttered, fertilized, changed or readied for the future you. 

If you are not sure what's next, I suggest you make space for the unknown. Clear out rooms, drawers, closets and wait. Record your dreams and do some journaling. And then listen, asking yourself, "If I knew what was next, what would it be?" "If I could be anywhere and do anything, what would I choose?" Then slowly, as the Fall days descend into the short, dark days of Winter, look into the Void and listen. You will meet your Soul Self as sure as one season changes into another.