Falling leaves in springtime
March 14, 2010 – 11:54 am
Reflective audience
No matter how long I live down here I still cannot adjust to leaves falling in the springtime. I find myself resisting the urge to yell at mother nature and tell her that her timing is way off track! I imagine a silly dialogue. A Taoist lesson if you will…
Me: “Leaves fall in October, not March!”
Mother Nature: “Oh yeah. Says who?”
“Says me!”
“And who are you?”
“I am a little peon who thinks she can control the universe with my opinions.”
“And why is it so important to control the universe?”
“Because knowing what to expect keeps me safe from harm, allows me to plan and be productive.”
“In other words, you are a simple person who needs the structure of logic to live a happy life?”
“Yes.”
“And if I upset your logical order, you can no longer function?”
“Well, if you put it that way, I can but it’s much harder.”
“So when logic fails you, you cannot trust something bigger than yourself?”
“Like what, God?”
“Maybe…or maybe just something bigger than logic, bigger than emotions, bigger than you.”
“So if I’m not in control of the universe, then what I am in control of?”
“Your response to the universe. That’s it. Nothing else.”
“And that’s supposed to be enough?”
“Yes.”
“But what about my plans, my hopes and dreams, my vocation?”
“You are only here to experience life as a human being with all of its foibles and all of its wonderful encounters. To love and hurt, to laugh and cry, to experience the full spectrum of what is available to you and to accept that everything that happens is…
“Is what?”
“Just is….”
“I think it’s easier to curse the leaves…”
“Sure it is. But you are bigger than that. You can do more than that.”
“Like what?”
“Like laugh at yourself when you want to curse the leaves, or rush the dawn or push back the night.”
“In other words, accept what is and keep going?”
“Yes, that’s a start. Then your whole world will change and you will begin to see things differently.”
“Like how?”
“Well once you really accept that you cannot stop the leaves from falling you will learn to enjoy them as they fall.”
“Savor what I have you mean?”
“Enjoy it without wanting to possess it forever. Enjoy it as you have it knowing that you will only have it for a brief moment before that too ends.”
“But that’s so painful, enjoying it knowing that it’s going to end, to go away.”
“The pain depends on what you are trying to keep, the happiness those things bring or the things themselves.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, but you are beginning to…”
“How?”
“Just by having these conversations….”
5 Responses to “Falling leaves in springtime”
Like we always say here in the lowcountry, If you don’t like the
weather, wait a minute.
And if you wait on some of the leaves to change, it’s like watching paint dry.
Yes, as we get older it gets harder and harder to accept change,
regardless of how we get it or how it comes about.
Old Age is not for sissies!
On we go…..
just June
By June on Mar 14, 2010
Gal, have you lostit talking to Mother Nature?
She always wins but it sounded like a pretty good conservation. Take care, Betty B.
By Betty Black on Mar 14, 2010
Trish!! This is so reminiscent of my favorite “Conversation With God” (Neale Donald Walsch). I’ve read all~I, II, and III, and loved them. Your chat with the Mother is perfecto! My industrial vac is poised for the live oak spring deluge… will think o’ you as I suck up the offenders.
By Hartley on Mar 14, 2010
Trish;
If the Live Oak did not push off the old leaves with the new buds then thaat would mean that the tree was sick or dead. They are one of the most magnificat trees we have in the lowcountry. However they are not the best street tree for downtown Charleston, not enough room!God is so good.
Van
By Van Atkins on Mar 14, 2010
Perspectives can be so different. I eagerly await the spring fall of oak leaves. Chopped or whole they are bagged for fresh mulch in the garden beds as soon as the camellias have finished blooming and all blossoms are disposed of to help lessen the dreaded petal blight. I never seem to have enough and so must scout around the neighborhood for bags on the street before trash day. I try to make certain they come from chemical free yards and are not comtaminated with someone else’s camellia blooms. Jerry Weise
By Jerry Weise on Mar 14, 2010