Season for Darkness

Now that it is officially fall and the days are getting visibly shorter, I am starting to get ready for the darkness. “Darkness,” not in a sense of depression or hardships, but “darkness” in terms of time for rejuvenation, restoration, and regeneration.

Last weekend I had an opportunity to go on a private tour of Wind Wolves Nature Preserve led by an archeologist to see some cave rock art. We met outside of the 93,000 acre of wilderness owned by Wild Land Conservancy and caravan’ed deep into the canyons to get to the caves where there were some paintings by the local tribes hundreds of years ago. In this vast wilderness which provides habitat for wide range of wildlife species as well as native plants including some that are endangered, the archeologist pointed to some spots where Chumash village sites were.

My imagination was activated thinking about the indigenous people living in this seemingly desolate land with thriving culture. The more I learn more about regenerative life practice, the more fascinated I am by the wisdom the indigenous people had amassed from being tuned in to the nature that surrounded them. They knew how to live with the nature in harmony.

As our modern life, especially in big cities, has become so removed from the natural cycles, we are often out of sync with the nature. Yet there’s no doubt the pandemic has awakened a lot of us to go outside and enjoy the great outdoor more than before. Hopefully, we’ve become a little bit more attuned in the last 30 months or so.

When the days get shorter and colder days come upon us, I would like to remind us all to take more time to go within, shed the unnecessary beliefs and thoughts, like the leaves falling off the trees in autumn, and think about what we would like to see sprout in the spring. Whereas I can feel the frantic energy of the holiday season wanting to arise in me (I notice the Halloween decorations and costumes around already!), it is my desire to maintain my mindfulness so that I am in tuned with this season of darkness to allow conscious and organic unfoldment in my life.