Ripen

The fruit trees outside are no longer producing fruit, but their lessons stay with me as autumn rolls in. The transition to a new season, which bears a fruit of its own, reminds me that life is continually ripening for us beneath the surface. Ideas, dreams and desires, like seeds, get planted and there is a period of time we must wait. (Waiting, I'll admit, isn't exactly my strong suit. I was born on the cusp of zodiac signs which adds a sense of urgency to everything I do. Like this post, which has maddeningly taken weeks to bring to fruition!)

When we have a goal or vision for the future, we expect things to materialize immediately. It's easy to forget that ripening is a process. It takes time. Only recently have I begun to relax into this idea. Not to panic that things aren't happening fast enough or that something must be "wrong". To trust the rhythm and wisdom of the divine universe to unfold my life exactly how it should. This doesn't mean being a passive spectator, just as the gardener must tend to the soil and ensure the right conditions for growth and maturation. It means honoring the intelligence that is gathering. So I write down my aspirations and put them on view every day. I envision the life of my dreams each night, I ask for guidance...until one day, magically, the stars align, the right person shows up, the answer to the question arrives.  

Ripening requires not only patience but a heavy dose of self-acceptance. To say, I am exactly where I need to be at this point in time. Let that hit you in the gut for a moment...I am exactly where I should be. There is something else hidden deep within this waiting: persistence. The quiet persistence of continuing to show up to your life and persevere even when everything feels like it's stalling or that the seed is buried so deep that you wonder how it will ever break ground. Trust there is forward motion, as if sitting on a train with the landscape blurring outside your window. You are still moving. When we sink into the process and let life's intelligence unfold, impatience gives way to surrender. This month, allow yourself to immerse in the ripening of your goals and dreams and savor the knowing that everything you desire is on the way.