Homecoming. Home coming. Coming home. Come home.
It’s that time of year when there is a lot of stuff going on out there in the world. But do you know what my favorite thing to do is?
My favorite thing to do is to stay home. As a sensitive soul, I am not enamored with crowds.
I can endure them when the goal is cultured, like watching musical theatre or listening to a classical music concert. But the cacophony of football games does not make me feel at home in myself…at all.
Instead, I like to turn my attention inside myself and inside our home at the turning time of the year.
Of course, there are still garden beds to weed and prep for spring and summer planting, but mostly I am looking around my home with new eyes. The kind of eyes that have been mostly outside for six months.
It has been a successful growing season but that satisfaction is only experienced if it is recognized and felt.
The house is a bit cluttered, if I am honest.
What do I need?
What do I no longer want?
How can I energize my rooms so that staying inside all winter will be more relaxing and enjoyable?
There is so, so, so much pressure on us to focus on the outside world.
Big games.
Big wins.
Big losses.
Big scandals.
Big tragedies.
But too much focus outside is how the inside realms become neglected.
By being outside all spring and summer, I have nourished my body, mind and soul.
By turning back inside, I am relighting a fire in my heart like a tiny hearth that warms me to the furthermost reaches of my being.
I need that heat. I need that fire. I need that reclaiming of my inner reaches.
I can’t get a cozy, warm, content feeling outside. I get other things from being outside.
At this time of year mostly I get the anticipation of going back inside where it is warm and welcoming.
And, don’t get me wrong, I love spring and summer. I loved them throughout the growing season.
But at the onset of fall, with the sharp winds and downpours of needed rain, I am ready to toss aside my dirty garden gloves and venture indoors where many fall and winter seasonal adventures await.
After all, life is not built on achievements. Life is built on accumulated moments of awe and wonder, which arise from being content in the flow of life.
Out and in. In and out. The flow of life. The wonder of the changing seasons.
Where will it all take you this fall?
I hope to an adventure of your own making.
Perhaps even into a homecoming.