Letting Go, Gently

I was staring out the window on a cool autumn morning, when I noticed a tree bathing in the sun, its leaves a perfect mix of gold and yellow, sparkling, glowing. A fleeting moment of beauty.

And just like that, the wind whispered to the leaves the little bit of courage they needed to let go, gently. Slowly and gently, they let go of the tree, and danced through the air, guiding themselves to the ground. Mother earth welcoming them back, a place for them to rest, to sweetly decay.

I have watched hundreds if not thousands of trees in my lifetime go through this cycle. Time and time again, the trees trust mother nature and surrender to the cycle of life. A cycle filled with joys as well as sorrows. Do the trees feel grief? Do the leaves feel pain? Do they feel anger and denial when their colors start changing? Do they feel pain when they start budding and blooming in the spring? Do they suffer or fully trust and surrender and attune to nature’s pulse?

Our coming into our physical body world was filled with agonizing pain and suffering our mothers felt as they labored for hours. And in between the pain, in between the contractions, in those brief moments of calmness, the joy resurfaced and the breath became stronger. And our exit out of the body will be filled with pain and suffering, physical pain from illness taking over and psychological pain from us holding on to what no longer is. But perhaps as a leaf fully surrenders to the powers of mother nature, so should we. Reminding ourselves that our body is a temporary vessel, a vehicle to navigate through the beautiful journey of life, but it is not who we are.

To be in tune with nature, is perhaps a way to understand the interconnectedness of all beings, and to celebrate all experiences, whether joyous or not. Suffering is not an enemy, but rather a wise teacher. Our task as students of life is to master transmuting the pain, the suffering, the darkness, the grief into something beautiful. And the biggest tool we have to achieve that is the power of love and kindness to all beings. Because ultimately, irrespective of our own individual experiences and suffering, we are the collective. To help alleviate not only our own but someone else’s pain and suffering, what a gift, what a blessing!