Each season brings along, not only its own characteristics, but also its own influence on people.
While one group suffers from a feeling of blues when the first leaves start to drop, others enjoy the splendor of colors autumn brings.
This morning me and my dog went for a very early morning walk in the park.
In summer when the sun rises early, animal world is fully alive with birds chirping and singing their song, when we arrive.
This Sunday morning in October however, arriving shortly after sunrise, the forrest was amazingly quiet. It felt as if the birds had decided to stay ‘in bed’ a while longer, curl up, stick their beaks under their wing-feathers and go within to the land of dreams.
Also the trees were silent.
‘Trees never talk’, you may object, but to me trees glow in summer, spreading the message of abundance and growth, their leaves rustling with birds flying up and down feeding their young and attracting their mates, while in autumn the energies retreat into the core of the trunk and the branches allowing the leaves to fall and nourish the earth to prepare it for new arrivals next spring.
That process of fertilizing the earth takes a couple of month and while some will see it as decay, it can also be seen as the laying of the foundation of new life.
Autumn to me is like getting ready for bed, knowing my dreams are waiting, that I may have a rest after having done my thing, and regenerate my energies.
While some try and defy autumn, by going to the sun-bank or booking a holiday to a warmer country, I prefer to emerge myself in what I see as the Gifts of Autumn; the quietness of it, the permission to slow down, to shed thoughts, activities and urges that have no place in this stage of life. At the same time I feel free to weave my own true colors when the abundance of summer retreats, when the outside world slows down and the inside worlds get a better chance to come out.
In her book Energy Medicine, Donna Eden describes the emotions and personal characteristics that come with, what she calls, The Five Rhythms, Winter, Spring, Summer, Indian Summer and Autumn, accompanied by exercises to balance the mood-swings that come with each season.
‘Cradling the Baby‘ is designed for the period of time we are in right now, redirecting the energies of mercy you would usually show others, back to yourself; nourishing the self, taking time to rest, enjoying the gifts of autumn.
I found ‘Cradling the Baby” on Youtube demonstrated and explained by Donna Eden 
Ingrid Schippers
The Hague, 18-10-2015
This blog is recorded as weekly end-note of Dutchbuzz.nl, the radio program for internationals, every Tuesday on The Hague FM from 10 to 11 pm.
All programs are archived at Dutchbuzz.nl.
