Autumn – Leaf theory: Many of us spend our lives attempting to find the ‘right path’ that will magically shepherd us to our ‘true destiny’ – I know that that was true for me at least!
It went something like this: imagine a leaf in your hands, turn it over and take a look at those delicate veins spreading forth from the stem. I don’t know about you, but I spent years desperately searching for the ‘right’ vein to ride to get to that stem – surely the source of all future joy just waiting to be weaved into the fabric of my life.
Then one day I began to wonder… what if, instead of travelling towards the stem, we actually come from the stem? What if we should be looking at the leaf in the opposite direction and our destiny was actually our birth, and our lives are the entire leaf – a myriad of tiny paths, all as valid as each other and all ‘meant’ to be taken?
In this version, there’s no more anxiety generated by being on the wrong path, no more fear about having missed the right one, running out of time, or just plain getting lost. With our view no longer turned towards that stem, but rotated 180° and tilted outwards towards the world instead, we can observe a sea of little paths all stretching out in front of us like a magical river’s delta – each and every one of them contained in the leaf of what our lives are ‘meant’ to be.
Our renewed viewpoint also allows us to notice that we are not alone, with what first begins as a rustling in the air we soon come to realize is the sound of all our brother and sister leaves fluttering in the breeze above, below and all around us – the ones we could not see when our focus was solely on the stem.
Winter – Winter’s veil: Winter has set in here and every year I’m re-awakened to
a message that Nature is carrying on its icy back. As leaves fall away, we come to discover worlds metres from places that are so familiar to us that we didn’t even know existed just a few months before. Buildings, places, things that we cannot see the rest of the year, become gradually uncovered by the trees as their branches become barer and barer still.
In the same way, sometimes all that is needed to make sense of things is a change of perspective, searching through and behind the trees instead of looking straight at them. Looking through and behind our problems, getting rid of the noise, focusing in on the most important things and what lies behind.
This unveiling dance continues until spring returns, and the sun bathes the ground in light once more so that the leaves return and those hidden worlds retreat behind their leafy screens once more until the next winter comes.
So as the cold continues its march across the ground, until March begins to tilt its head towards the sun, I’m reminded of nature’s message to look further and deeper to find the answers that we seek. Because often, those answers are a lot closer than we think – just on the other side of the veil.
For more information on nature-infused life coaching sessions in English and in French go to: www.jean-oconnor.com
