OCTOBER GUIDANCE: LEAN ON THE FIRE INSIDE

2013 OCTOBER GUIDANCE…
Welcome the movement into a new season; a new cycle offers the opportunity to participate with nature. Important openings are available to you now. Aligning your energy with the fire inside will help you through the turbulence.

October is traditionally the month of open doors, of beautiful opportunities, the heart of autumn. We see leaves start to change, nature’s palette bursting. We feel the drop in the temperature, a bite in the air. We witness nature take a turn, shifting internal, with a final fire-like expression.

This October, it also feels like everything is getting shaken and spun; we are being reminded and awoken. Our own internal sense of self is being rocked. Our attention is needed right now. On top of being in what feels like the spin cycle, it seems as if all of the unresolved emotional baggage we have swept into the corners and under the blanket of our overactive daily lives is being unveiled and tossed up creating a dust cyclone clouding our view; obstructing our clarity. Some clients I have worked with this month have expressed feeling like the open doors they are facing are like a vacuum, pulling and tugging at them, calling upon then with a force that leaves them grasping for the comfort of old patterns and situations. All of this can make us feel like we are on the carnival ride “The Scrambler” with all gears turning in different directions. We get foggy and confused, dizzy with very little clarity to choose, discern, or understand what is happening to us. Our minds like to analyze, compartmentalize, and play it safe. There doesn’t seem to be time or clarity enough for our minds to keep up. We are having trouble trusting the old part of us we used to rely on.

The good news is there is an answer, and we only have to slow down and go inside to find it. We are being summoned into a warmer place, the furnace inside, where our souls are deeply connected to our truth, where everything is clear. Here are a few ways to help us unravel the cyclone and get clarity to move forward.

Watch nature
Nature shows us what to do. Watch the animals curl up, nestle inside and rest. Watch the trees release their leaves. They align with the wind and nourish the soil by dropping what no longer serves them. Release the old, literally let it go and the tight grip you have on anything that represents “comfortable suffering.” Get uncomfortably vulnerable; expose yourself to the potential of Universal possibility. 

Lean into fire inside 
Your internal spirit, your inner wisdom, your light is your guide. When it gets dark out there, clouded by emotional stuff, go deep inside where it is quiet and there is a telling, brave, radiant light. Ask this connection to the Divine within which way to go. Ask what you need to face in order to move forward without fear toward the open door that moves you toward your highest good.

Get comfortable and connected
Find a cozy spot, curl up, and make a list. Not a grocery or to do list, make a list of the top 10 things that you do that help you tune in to your inner guidance, that bring you harmonious connection. Then commit to doing at least one of the 10 each day. Hang the list somewhere you can see it.

Be gentle and go slow
When shifts are challenging us, there is no better time to offer ourselves extremely gentle, loving care. This means aligning our priorities and ensuring our needs are met, especially spiritually. Mindfully choose to slow down. Give yourself extra time. Breathe consciously, deep into your body. 

Autumn is a time to burn off the old and light our souls up, the candle inside, to check our compass. Use the light from your inner fire, or as Martha Beck and Dr. Lissa Rankin put it, your “Inner Pilot Light.” Gather the kindling. Pile it up. Say a prayer and light it on fire. 

Cheers to the settling of the winds, the harvest, the bounty, and the comfortable gratitude we’ll settle into for the winter.