Autumn is a beautiful time but it can also be – let’s be honest here – a bit dank and dark. There is beauty in that too of course but it’s hard to see it when going outside for a moment means a battle with sideways rain and a drenching.
I have always found the scene in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ where the female character gives up her battle to hunker down indoors and instead walks right out into what is meant be the ‘abyss’ – a cloud of grey that covers her as soon as she leaves the house – a little funny. I know for an American audience the representation of the abysss works but to an Irish audience it looks like leaving your house on a regular Tuesday for the messages.
A darkness now hangs in the air – a necessary important darkness, part of the seasons, part of life – and we are built to adapt to it. On top of that we have the non-stop focus of bad news in the media – no longer relegated to pre-internet times of news bulletins at one, six and nine. Oh no, now we can keep on top of the terrible state of the world all the live-long day from a device we keep on our person 18 hours a day. Fabulous.
It's easy to get lost or caught up and adopt a furrowed brow. And it can make it hard to remember that we do all have an individual power in the world even though at times it might feel insignificant. How we are - how we feel – how we treat others - impacts our own mental health, our families, our circle, the world.
American author John C.Maxwell wrote: “Most people want to change the world to improve their lives, but the world they need to change first is the one inside themselves.”
It sounds so simple – but it’s not that easy. That’s why it is so important to take time out for yourself – as brief as that time might be – to connect, to do some inner work. Most tools of personal development that work are free and effective though require consistency. Things like journaling and walks, even in the rain.
You are light and your light matters.
