New Beginning
September has always been a month where I have felt hesitant ,uneasy and in flux but this year I feel quite activated and quite excited. This maybe due to learning more about myself and understand that negative thoughts can confuse and inform your feelings wrongly.
I woke up moving my thoughts away from scarcity and realised that parts of my un finished house needed to be done for it to feel like home.
Home is my centre , my sanctuary and where I create from. As a neuro-divergent my home needs to be a familiar place, a sanctuary , and was something I struggled with when married as the place always made me feel off centre but was unable to express this as I didn’t understand it myself. I had not realised how much a space has an affect on me until I began Mindfulness.
My first session with the Mindfulness Association on their teaching Mindfulness began last Thursday. We brought the beginning of the practice to Intention and Motivation as with anything including meditation these are the preamble to a beginning. My thoughts drifted to my favourite Paulo Coelho book “Witch of Portobello” as she used teaching to deeply learn and had no fear. Teaching and people are outside my comfort zone but I feel I have some value to add to people. Teaching will hopefully deepen my own practice and learn more about myself. I do have intentions to develop nature mindfulness walks , forest bathing and mindfulness photo nature walks and being registered to teach surely does help.
Since using my Major Arcane Tarot deck card of the month to contemplate, I have only drawn 4 of the same cards in 12 months but on the 1st September I drew the “Devil” which is expressed as “divine light trapped” or something blocking out the light. I liken this to my resilience training where the core principle is that our wellbeing is innate within us but we as humans managed to cover this up with out sourcing our happiness to things and people. That in-built within us is clarity , contentment , motivation , peace of mind , love , empathy , etc and what we need to realise is we are innately resilient. The work is uncovering whats already there.
I feel this card is a synchronicity as I have had recent thoughts of obsessing about insecurity with the lack of income even though presently I do not need it. My focus is on scarcity whereas it should be on gratefulness of abundance of life which I do have. Sometimes you have to just let go and let god !
I have been helping someone get through quite an awful experience and I said to him having a clear intention and plan helps focus the mind in the right direction rather than being lost in other peoples drama. To write down what you want your life to be like , it doesn’t matter about not knowing the details of how it works as that will unfold : just have the intention to resolve whilst holding your values in place with self compassion. It is surprising how powerful this can be. It has taken most of the year with lots of listening and guidance but he has now come to a healthy workable plan and things will change for the better without badly reacting at the person which I am so proud of.
We all have separate realities which can often clash, mindfulness helps you notice yourself being drawn into something because of your own triggers and some healthy stepping back from furthering the clash, resolution can be found. This is a “Devil” moment of your angry reactions covering up clarity.
I think that the fundamentals in life is being honest , having integrity and doing the right thing even when outside forces can distract you away.
Bakethin Nature Reserve
After some rain storms I managed to sneak out for all three places without getting wet which I am thankful and my camera more so.
Like myself the change has begun with noticeable leaves turned into yellows and reddy browns mainly in small patches but they do stand out. Soon after there will be more turned creating in native woodland areas wonderful displays and I feel that due to the specially hot summer that the energy stored will be creating something amazing. I definitely got my sights on visiting one or two woodlands for this.
This transition into Autumn is a good time to reflect , turning of leaves or the harvest of fruit and nuts is a metaphor for your own yearly journey. Do remember you do not have to sensationalise it into massive awards but to feel something has shifted in you, like being kinder maybe more accepting or perhaps less angry. Everything doesn’t have to be money or career achievements. Your harvest could be being able to feel more or more tuned into intuition than the last year or you may of become more skilful at something. The year may off given you an insight and you are beginning to set new intentions.
Do not diminish your life , it’s the simple things which endure.
Being a purple fan Kielder Forest has won me over. Only a few die hards remain and if you look closely there are one or two still with potential for flowering.
As you walk down the paths the verges are emptying with exception of grass and some patches of brambles, all preparing itself for the first frost to come and in contrast the forested areas do not seem to have changed but the ground elder which will recede and the moss will change its hue and as things become more limited to show; my attention will be tuned into how the structure of the place is formed.
In small patches where clumps of ferns live some have begun to change colour , mainly green yellows that almost become translucent in the sunlight and then the opaqueness of russet browns to darkened burnt umbers.
The changes reveal the codes of the universe as before you marvel in the colours competing for attention now it’s the calmness of structures in darkened muted earth colours. You can see individual seeds ready to drop for the next year as nature fills the spaces.
Blackberries have ripened and a good many disappeared which is the first I have seen this early in the year. Lets hope that the wildlife has a good feed on them enough to last the winter.
It is a great time looking at different plant leaves as they change as on the cusp there are some wonderful designs worthy of many folk artist.
The nature pond is slowly changing now and I wonder how quickly a once teaming with life pond becomes silent once more. It is something which needs a few visits this month otherwise come the beginning of October it will be completely different. I want to see the stages and the point of change.
Bull Crag Peninsular
Bull Crag has a different distribution of Heather than Bakethin , Whereas Bakethin is mainly in large clumps of Heather scattered over the area , in Bull Crag it has populated itself in a linear manner along the path verges just as the spring flowers had I like this arrangement and although different to Heather Moorland it is quite delightful to see the sparkles on a sunny day lighting up the path. Now that I am here I can see each year how they manifest themselves along the paths.
Along the old road open to the sunlight and adjacent to reservoir you can still find areas of Yellow flowers albeit they are dwindling but only a tiny amount of white and purple now exist. It is fun though seeking them out and shows that nature has its own intentions especially with cadence of plants through the seasons.
There isn’t as much Blackberries plants here than in Bakethin but mostly where there are there are limited ripened ones remaining. Along the verges there is still more going on and the dried flower heads , grasses and other plants are making its own beauty and I absolutely love seeking out little stories
Ferns are changing colour now and I love how one fern plant has a few leaf’s golden brown and the remainder still green with maybe a few tips yellowing. There are few clumps deeper into the forest areas which are much darker and falling back to the ground.
Hareshaw Linn
The native woodland is showing itself off with Hawthorn trees laden so much with crimson berries that the branches are sagging. Little purple bullets of vitamin C filling up the elderberry tree are keeping the birds chattering exited by the almost inexhaustible harvest. I even met a Deer that didn’t want to move as it was enjoying a feast so much so I quietly moved past whilst it kept on eating. Crowds of Rose Hips adorn the place in the areas before the woodland , I was curious about what ink they would make as I had not known of anywhere in Nidderdale with this abundance.
Only a few turned leaves but the promise of the colours I have seen is a promise of delight and now I have found two places to visit which may showcase fall.
I am hopeful that it will be a great showtime in this woodland too.
The walk up to the Waterfall was mainly a mass of green with maybe no more than dozen tiny purple flowers but even still there are a few in bud ready for that defiant “it’s not autumn yet mate” reminder. Although I quite often call the whole September autumn technically the equinox is on the 22nd September , maybe late summer then.
What was curious was the ferns have not turned quite yet like Kielder Forest has. When I began to walk up my first reaction was “how on earth am I going to photograph all this mass of green” but I hope I am giving the place the justice it deserves.
