" A N D  T H E  S E A S O N S,
T H E Y  G O  R O U N D
A N D
R O U N D ."
Joni Mitchell

"I T  W O N 'T  B E  L O N G
N O W  T I L L  Y O U
D R A G  Y O U R  F E E T
T O  S L O W  T H E
C I R C L E S  D O W N."
Joni Mitchell

The leaves are in their gradually accelerating change from green to gold to carpeting the ground. They are an indicator of time passing and have far more impact than the minutes and hours of any clock. They mark the passing of seasons and years, years of our lives, and unlike birthdays that fall in the particular season we were born, there is something more poignant about measuring our years by their seasons.

Fall is particularly poignant. Like spring, it stands between the extremes of summer and winter but flows in the opposite direction. Spring elevates us so that we can look ahead and see summer coming. Fall brings us down to earth as the high of summer leaves us, like the end of a visit by a special friend, to cope with the coming of winter by trying to savour the gifts that fall promises and sometimes provides.

The cycle of seasons becomes increasingly more like a vortex. Winter seems to drag on if we are not vigilant about the subtle shifts in sunlight and temperature. The vortex may whirl a little more slowly then but quickly picks up speed. Spring arrives and suddenly it is summer and what happened to summer? And then it is fall again and somewhere in all of that we have had another birthday.

Why does time speed by? It is not really time that is speeding by, it is us. Before we know it, the day is done, it is a new month and that month is January of the new year. My older brother liked to sit quietly. People would find him sitting quietly in the middle of a community social event and ask why he was not walking around and talking to others. He said that if he sat in one spot, sooner or later everyone he wanted to see would walk by him. By sitting quietly rather than rushing about, he figured he would not miss anyone.

Action is not synonymous with high-speed activity. Sitting quietly was an action with a specific intention for my brother that involved no speed, absolutely none at all, yet it was highly effective in providing him with the experiences he was seeking. It was a strategy that obviously had escaped everyone else so it worked well for my brother. He was a keen observer from his quiet vantage point who was able to see ways of being and of doing things that wasted little effort.

I contemplate actions, unencumbered by the need to rush about in a state of urgency, that afford me interesting opportunities and experiences. It is perhaps noteworthy that I have used the words contemplation and action in the same sentence. I will be thinking more about that as I savour a gift of fall, wading through the crunchy layer of leaves that cover the hiking trails. I don't want to miss that wonderful experience, and it takes so little effort.