I slept through my alarm this morning and it really threw me off balance! I woke in a room bathed in a glowing yellow light, well really a luminous chartreuse if I was to be specific, and it felt ‘other worldly’? All through the summer I have just about managed to keep up the practice of waking naturally at daybreak and getting up to witness the sunrise. I have watched the sky slowly change through a more or less routine set of colours until the sun was above the horizon, and it gave me a very satisfying feeling of rhythm and stability as well as inspiration. But this morning I missed that process and was catapulted into a world of warm green pea soup!

I got up and made my first cup of tea, the best one of the day, and went out into the garden as usual to smell the fresh morning air and observe the increments of seasonal change that happen daily if you have a mind to take notice. There was ‘greenness’ everywhere and heavy moisture in the air that almost felt tropical. As I was wandering through the vegetable patch, my love of which has also been a revelation to me this year, soft warm rain began to fall on me and it was beautiful. The cat meowed his objection and Sookie the pug looked up as if to say ‘can we go in now?’ – but I just stood for a while and felt my hair begin to curl into its natural state of wildness. It felt good.

Last year I remember feeling almost depressed about the end of summer, the speed of the slide from autumn to winter and the long dark nights. But I was determined this year to accept and embrace the changing seasons and really try to appreciate and engage with each stage as it happened. It feels easier because I threw myself into the challenge of enjoying every moment of summer, rising as early as 04.46 mid June and enjoying over 16 hours of daylight. Now I want to sync with the rhythm of nature as she slows everything down and harvests the produce of summers busy production. I want to enjoy my achievements and reflect on the lessons I have learned and the progress I have made. Mindful of my tendency towards frantic activity and burnout I want to rest and replenish both my energy and my creative well. First step = get back in my journal and let my mind gently unravel…