Goodbye Summer - Hello Fall

Hard to remember this summer already….how quickly if fades away and glides into fall. As much as I seem to resist the fall once I really embrace it, feels just right. Mums, pumpkins, light jackets and sweaters and a fire on chilly days feels safe and inviting. Through ritual I want to pause and reflect on this summer as I do with each season. Embracing my new home and enjoying the lake life, beach, concerts, barbecues and meeting new friends and sharing sweet times with my friends and family. I also acknowledge the tragic loss of members of our community and the fragility of life and love. What did you embrace this summer? Did you renew a friendship, move on to a new home, retire, travel, bring a new life into this world, or deal with an unexpected mishap or loss? Whatever your experience I wish you peace. May this new season carry you through with abundance and health till old man winter comes a knocking. One lovely way of moving into the fall season is to create a Ritual: Rituals elevate anything that is important to you in your life. “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.” ~Joseph Campbell Elements of a Ritual from ZenHabits.net:

Create your environment: Create a sacred space and infuse it with flowers, statues, candles. Bring to this space anything that creates a sense of mindfulness.
Intention: As you start, set an intention for the ritual. What would you like to practice during this ritual? How do you want to show up? Set the intention, and then carry that intention throughout the ritual.
Bring presence: Be as fully present as you can. Create this special space and time for you.
Deep appreciation: Ritual is about bringing full appreciation to the act. A daily shower ritual is appreciating your body for the miracle it is. Daily eating rituals is appreciating not only the nourishing food, but the people who put their life energy into growing, transporting and preparing the food. A daily writing ritual might be an appreciation of your connection to your reader. We often take things for granted — ritual brings the appreciation for life, the world, others and ourselves back into our lives.
Contemplation: create a ritual to contemplate what you are feeling, what you need and what fears or emotions you may be experiencing.
Connection to aspiration: What do you want to create in the world? What do you want to shift?
Lift to sacredness: We take the ordinary things in our lives for granted, but what if we lifted the ordinary to sacredness? This doesn’t require a belief in God (though it can) … it’s imbuing a power into an action. The word “sacred” comes from the Latin “sacrāre,” which means to consecrate, to dedicate. That usually has holy connotations but can simply mean to be devoted to something that has power. What if we could see the mundane as powerfully sacred and magical?
Close in gratitude: A ritual has a closing, which might be simply gratitude for whatever you just did, how you practiced, or what you are devoted to. Give a small prayer of thanks to yourself, to the world.