By the calendar as it stands today, the beginning of fall really starts with the Autumnal Equinox. Equinox literally means “equal night”. And on that particular September day (which varies from year to year) as the official start of fall, most places on Earth see approximately 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of darkness. Sounds like Earth is in a perfect balancing act at this time of year. Sounds like a prime time to balance yourself with your surroundings too. Sounds like October One is the new January One.
While the shape of the clouds take on new directions with the shift in sunlight… change is happening everywhere. The cooling in the air and the shortening of the days leads to many things…not to mention the change of the clocks that will soon occur. (Yep, Fall Back is coming). But I love that. I love seeing new waves of light peer through my upstairs windows and down into my kitchen for that short moment when the coffee is brewing. And that time when the shadows are so long at dusk that it looks like the trees actually got taller when they lost their leaves. The trees all around my home erupt in their own time in a fireworks display of colors. All that effort they expelled over the summer, they release and store up their nutrients to last them through till Spring.
You can take deeper breaths in this air, and you long for the moments of cozy scarves and bottomless mugs of hot tea. So why is it then that New Year’s Day is in January? I feel like October 1st is a fine choice for a new, fresh start. I Googled why it is that the new calendar begins in January, and it turns out we have the era of Julius Caesar to thank for it. There was a time when the New Year began in March, and even mention of it beginning sometime in September. Finally January it stayed.
But I am still thinking that perhaps October 1st makes the perfect calendar block for change.
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
During the month of October, take more walks outside. Put your phone away more often. A LOT more often. Eat dinner by candle light. Embrace the darkness as it comes, but enjoy the early morning sunshine just as much. Notice that sparkle of dew on the grass as the colder nights leave their mark on the warm earth. Make a reason in your head for the change in season to be a change in yourself. Spiritual, physical, mental, emotional. Make it any day really. Who says January 1 has to be THE Day. I say, grab the moment when the moment hits you. Like a droplet clinging to a branch. The rain this afternoon was a welcome change to the dry, unseasonably hot weather we have been experiencing. (The grass was greener in late July than it was today.)
The calendar may change from 2019 to 2020 on a particular day but I don’t know, in my book…I’m looking to a fresh page in October when the moment moves me. Or an acorn drops on my head. Happy New Year.
