Beauty is the harvest of presence.
“BEAUTY is the harvest of presence, the evanescent moment of seeing or hearing on the outside what already lives far inside us; the eyes, the ears or the imagination suddenly become a bridge between the here and the there, between then and now, between the inside and the outside; beauty is the conversation between what we think is happening outside in the world and what is just about to occur far inside.”
by David Whyte
Typically harvest season starts late September or early October for those farming and growing crops outside. Before the weather changes and cools as autumn approaches, the crops are cut and collected, ready to be used for cooking and eating. Reaping, threshing, cleaning and hauling are the four stages of harvesting. I like this time of year, the seasonal reminder of the doing and that thoughts and intentions alone are not enough.
Often when working with women starting up a new business, energies are high but confidence is not yet robust. We spend a good amount of time in the beginning of the programme setting intentions and aligning values. This stage is important, it gives direction and clarity. But it isn’t where you stop, it is just the map-it is where you start. Although vital, intentions alone are not going to get you very far, especially when you face the first hint of discomfort or challenge.
You have to fully embody your intentions and keep doing the work. It’s the difference between someone saying they want something and another person actually doing the work and manifesting the opportunities that get them to their goal.
One is superficial. The other is rooted in intentional work.
One of our course rituals is around seasons and cycles. We know that tuning into yourself not only optimises your natural energy cycles it encourages you to get out of your own way.
Instead of resisting, we help you find ways to tune into natural seasons and cycles of life. Getting out of your own way means being with who you are, moment to moment, whether you like it or not. Whether or not it’s easy or comfortable, familiar or disturbing, and then creating from that place.
Autumn is a good time to let go of old habits and thoughts, celebrate endings and invite in change. The more we value our interconnectedness, the more we value ourselves and our unique contribution to the whole.
As David Whyte so beautifully articulates, that deep embodied connectedness is the evanescent moment of seeing or hearing on the outside what already lives far inside us.
Harvest is cyclical in nature.
I find comfort in the ever changing seasons; it is both familiar and new. I also like idea that part of the harvest season is about choosing and planting the seeds for the future. Sometimes I like to think of the seeds as powerful questions. Asking good questions is often richer than finding answers. A powerful question focuses attention, intention and energy.
Here are 7 helpful tips for asking good questions;
- is simple and clear
- is thought-provoking
- it generates energy
- focuses inquiry
- challenges assumptions
- opens up to new possibilities
- evokes more questions.
“Beauty is an achieved state of both deep attention and self-forgetting; the self forgetting of seeing, hearing, smelling or touching that erases our separation, our distance, our fear of the other. Beauty invites us, through entrancement, to that fearful, frontier between what we think makes us; and what we think makes the world…Beauty is the harvest of presence.”
See here for David Whyte’s full poem.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, how you embrace the seasons and any wisdom you’ve found useful to share.
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