I write this in early September, we've passed through the doorway to Autumn and I'm in my new home. 

All around me, the tall trees reach towards the warm sun today. Ash, larch, hawthorn, sycamore, laurel and spruce from root to leaf and needle tip, craning towards the gradually fading light. Despite the long sunny days, the leaves are turning, the green bleeding out to mottled red and golden. I'm making efforts to stay as grounded in the now as the pines that encircle me. I would happily live in summer all year round, but I'm consciously trying not to mourn it's departure but instead reminding myself to be here now, to enjoy this time and the little blessings of the day.

Like how I topped my morning granola with blackberries, tumbled in amongst the apples, seeds and yogurt. A light scratch on the back of my hand the barter currency exchanged with the brambles that reign over the back field. 

And the sunsets! Its as though the sun is emptying his colour palette to splash the sky with rose, pink and crimson, like a painter who pastes his brush back and forth across the canvas using up the last pigments clinging to the bristles at the end of the day. 

And last night's waxing crescent moon - golden and slung casually in the night sky to the southwest, all devil may care! She cast a glistening glow across the water as we swam in her slip stream under the stars after the last Sea Sessions of 2022 on Banna Beach. 

A few weeks ago I wrote about the purple capped thistles that stood regally in the hedgerows. They are now flinging their white downy caps into the air, like graduates celebrating. Nostalgic memories curl around the edges of the excitement for the next chapter. 

For that's what the turn of the seasons is, it's not the end, nor a dramatic beginning, but simply a new page turning to tell stories of a time full of its own beauty and blessings. 

In our Slow & Seasonal programme this month, I shared some reflective journaling prompts. One was similar to this.... What step(s) can you take to make a current or upcoming transition in your life feel more easeful? 

I reason that I can dig my heels in, stay living in shorts and refuse to believe autumn is here. Sophicate my head in sand and fail to prepare for enviable winter or I can plan to transition with greater ease. To pack my proverbial backpack with tools and rituals I enjoy, that will help me restore my spent energy (buying, renovating and moving house is frickin hard!) before I face my busiest time of year. 

As a self-employed person my holiday time in late summer is somewhat wrapped up in my business. I'm planning, thinking ahead, advertising classes and events for autumn. I generate work in Autumn so when the deep rest of December calls I'll be able to respond and surrender to it having stored acorns through these months ahead to sustain me through winter. 

The need to be a few steps ahead can feel exhausting. So I'm trying to block my work together, to take a day here and there and work solidly for a few hours, then time off again. I wish I could switch off completely, I'm finding it harder this year with the added responsibility of new bills and since I'm not going away, the ties to work feel tighter. Im telling myself to be gentle and not berate myself, instead to embrace that my work is cyclical and I'm preparing for the months ahead. 

New schools shoes and pencil cases, a return to work, routine and structure. And the smell of new books and blank notepads of possibility. My inner child baulks a little but I cojole myself by browsing writing courses and a stack of books I've set aside with the best of intentions. I sign up for Parkrun and stuff canvas bags into the car seat pocket to hold my anticipated haul from the farmers market on Saturday morning.

Transitions and change are a part of life, we know this cerebrally but yet we often refuse to take this onboard on at other levels.

All this has me thinking about how instead of fighting against change, we have the choice to prioritise our focus and direct our energy towards transitioning through with ease. How can you make transitions smoother? Less jarring or staccato but instead more gradual and accepted.

One final tiny and perhaps trivial example but perhaps one that ties in well - I’ve had grey hair tucked away amongst my curls since my 20s. I’ve been dyeing and bleaching it since late teens and spent most of my adult life blonde. More recently, blonde has hidden the mostly grey. I toyed with letting it grow out but my ego couldnt deal with the slow grow out of grey roots, dark mid section and blonde ends, a tricolour I wasn’t proud of! Last week, I ran into a lovely lady whom I know from yoga classes, fresh from the salon, her silvery shimmering hair was healthy and stunning! She radiated. Ohhhhh yessss I thought THIS is the silver vixen look I’d love! Last Friday, I strolled out of the salon with silvery tones curling around my sun kissed faced. I had transitioned with ease. I could have endured the tri-colour grow out and worn a hat and that’s a the perfect route too, but I chose another that for me, made it all feel easier. A superficial example perhaps but hopefully one that demonstrates that though perhaps transition is evitable, there can be an easier way (defined by whatever you deem that to be).

Thank you for reading. Wishing you an easeful, colourful, nature filled September.

le grá,

Maeve (aka the silver vixen!) xxx

PS. If you’d like to plug in a few lovely things for yourself this Autumn, things to look forward to - check out my events page for upcoming ideas! There’s a Forest Bathing Workshop, Easy like Sunday Morning Beach Yoga Bruch and more! Oh and Yin Yoga is back on the schedule with a Yin Triology for the month of September! Hope to see you soon x