A tree doesn’t waste energy clinging to leaves that will no longer serve it. When you see the beautiful shades of the turning leaves, notice that the beauty you are witnessing is joyful death, the release of the old in order to preserve the natural cycle of life. I am moving house in a week and a half and as I prepare I find that my house is full of dead leaves. So much stuff! (I talked about the journey of redefining my relationship with stuff in my post last week about ethical consumerism.)

The thing about the earth is, she doesn’t do anything without reason. The reason for dropping leaves is simple – they are no longer required. What do we do when we have something that is no longer required? Very often we hang on to it, a physical memento of something that is no longer the now, but something which in some way seems to define us. If it’s junk, disorganisation – that can still define us. I have spent years strongly defining myself as a disorganised person who can’t get her paperwork together. Not 100% sure why am still attached to that, but I’m working on it. That habit of mine, well, its days are numbered! Aside from the beliefs we hold about ourselves, the physical objects we hold on to all hold a part of us, a part of our power. We bestow our power upon them in the form of our attachment to it.

Moving house is a wonderful opportunity for me to release my attachment to some old ways, and to a lot of objects (some of value, some just junk and disorganisation!) that have been with me for a number of years. This is helped in part by the fact that I will no longer be living alone, I am moving in with my boyfriend who is a bizarre neat freak. But in the main it is powered by myself and the earth, and will be maintained by my connection to the earth as well. The great clear out has begun.

The greatest message Gaia has for us at this time is detachment. If we hold on to something that is not needed, we lose precious power. It takes us out of the present moment and into resistance. Gaia knows that the antidote to resistance is trust. We hold on to what we have for fear that it may never come around again. We must trust in the abundant nature of our universe and allow ourselves and all things to go through our necessary cycles. Winter is always followed by spring, so let go and make room for new growth.

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