In last Friday's column, I'm No Thoreau...but I Choose to Live Deliberately, I wrote about the joy and creative energy I experience living in my unfinished garage, and my reluctance to return to my cottage once the summer hosting season ends.
Autumn is a time of restoration, rejuvenation, contemplation, and taking stock. I took a reflective look back while writing my morning pages earlier, and discovered on paper, what my mind and body already knew: it's been one helluva year creatively for this aging Sagittarius! As I ticked off the creative chances I took—-from launching guided group meditations three times weekly on Heygo, to publishing my column here, to running for political office in my seaside community, to undertaking the financial pressure of two major home improvement projects, to hanging my first solo photography show at a nearby gallery, to embarking on a six-week short story course at my local university, to hosting monthly book clubs and meet-ups, to facilitating one twelve-week creative recovery program for members of my private Facebook group—-I realized how hard I'd been pushing. Like Mother Nature, who generously birthed her splendor all year, it's time for me to let go, go within, and hunker down.
Mentally, I have given myself permission to move back into the cottage and to have fun doing things I don't normally have time for. Today I bought a 750-piece jigsaw puzzle, CLOSET CATS. I love making puzzles and have all the frills---a non-slip felt mat, low-wattage illumination that adjusts the spread of light, and a fold-and-go table is on my Christmas gift list. I like knowing that this activity improves brain function and short-term memory.
That mint-green Volkswagen bus lain diagonally across the puzzle box is intentional. In January/February 2023, I would love to rent a camper van and leave town for a month. My plan is to head down to Hunting Island in South Carolina (I camped there in 2014), revisit Old Car City USA (a car junkyard on over 34 acres) and my buddy, Dean Lewis, in White, Georgia, and ultimately get to Pensacola, to hang out with my daughter, Lindsey, her husband, Cooper and my grandpup, Mochi. Cooper is part of the America's Cup sailing team and they are based in Florida this winter.
Tell me about your plans for restoration this autumn. How will you honor the changing season? How will you tap into your inner balance?
For more on autumn and its symbolism, check out: https://www.bustle.com/life/fall-autumn-season-meaning-symbolism
For more information about my weekly guided group meditations, visit: https://www.heygo.com/the-footloose-muse
For information on Hunting Island, South Carolina, check out: https://southcarolinaparks.com/hunting-islandhttps://southcarolinaparks.com/hunting-island
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