A Season of Change
Reading time 2 minutes, 40 seconds
Channeling my friend Edie, I’ve been tapping out all of these poem fragments lately - little snippets of verse that seem to mean something in the moment, lush and effusive with the kind of figurative language that makes it easy to get lost in words. Recently she shared a practice with our writing group that she says helps her stay sane even amid the constant fluctuations of life. She likes to go out into her yard and dig in dirt. She says it helps center her. I don’t have a yard or dirt to dig in, but I have been feeling that call – to sink my hands and fingers into something without any expectation. So I tap out a few lines here and there, not sure the words will go anywhere but thankful that I have the space to let them fall free.
So it’s New Moon again. Scary how fast these days fly by. This New Moon is in Leo, and that brings with it a specific kind of energy.
If August is the Sunday of Summer, then September is the Monday of Autumn and my most favorite season of the year. It’s no secret I love plans and I love the idea of plans. I like seeing the future mapped out on a calendar, even if those plans never come to fruition. There’s something captivating about writing out goals and then working toward them. Or working toward them and then realizing that there are other, more important goals to insert in their places. Sometimes making plans is comical, but sometimes it helps align me with exactly what I need to be doing. Sort of like Edie and her dirt-digging – it’s not the act of the dig, it’s the intent.
Since last New Moon, I’ve been working toward developing a daily journaling practice. Some days are easier than others, and some days I don’t even manage to get anything to the screens, but I have managed 21 whole days of writing out truths ... which is incredibly difficult for me, the fiction writer. It’s scary to peel back my memory shrouds and take a close look at the state of things. The whole journaling practice is as much to help keep my words moving as it is a means to an end.
See, I just finished a leadership book I read for work called Find Your Why, and usually, I don’t go for these kinds of mass-produced “leadership” concepts. Still, this one struck a major chord with me - probably because this summer has been all about closing chapters and I’m eagerly preparing to open new notebooks in my life. FYW included some self-study journaling type prompts to help the reader uncover why they do what they do. I still don’t have my “why” statement ironed out, but I’m much closer to understanding motivation and intent and my end goals. That’s pretty freeing, especially on the precipice of this Leo Moon.
Leo is all about self-expression and confidence, so it’s no wonder I’ve been full steam ahead in opening myself up to myself. This clarity I’m gaining probably has as much to do with the moon as it does with me taking a closer look at what I want over the next decade and how I’m going to specifically take action toward it. This Moon resonates so deeply with exploration - looking for those new changes and welcoming them.
I love this season, this expectation of the academic year, the excitement I used to feel lining up my pencils and notebooks, the eagerness with which I approached the first day of school. I’m no longer a student, but that effusive energy is still with me, which is probably the other reason I’m so excited about the coming autumnal shift. This always feels like a new beginning, the turning of a page, the time to set goals. I used to think it was converse to what was happening in the natural world, but I think that’s because I was looking at it from the premise that change can only happen in the spring. The truth is, and what this New Moon reminds us of, is that change can happen anytime we’re ready.
So channel that inner lion and go forth! Write out your intentions, create a vision board, visualize your best life. Hold onto that fierceness and let it guide you through the upcoming shift.
How are you honoring your shifts this New Moon? What plans do you have to embrace the changing seasons? How are you digging in your dirt? Connect with me here or reach out on Twitter.