Don’t let these warm days fool you. Do you not see that the sycamores have given their all? That the gold of the maples has fallen? In the woods the squirrels are busily burying nuts and growing thick fur. Treat this spell of comfort as a grace, given you to gather memories of color and mild air, of flowing waters where leaves float like boats and ducks paddle freely through a still-liquid world. Take it as a kindness, given by the Yes, as a treasure for you to hold in your heart for warmth when the winds blow cold.
October, having hid a few of her favorite costumes in the hollow’s woods, brought them out as her final treat, a gift for all who happened down a certain country road. Then, laughing in pleasure at their delight, she slid into the shadows of the surrounding hills, and disappeared.
Now is the time, oh little ones, to wrap your summer in dreams, to take your billowing days and starlit nights, the play of swallowtails and damselflies, the woodlands’ whispering songs, and fold them in your feathers as your spirits fly away to the land where memories are spun into songs that sing the Yes ‘til spring’s morning.
I work here, in my studio, peering over my laptop through these panes of antique glass, noting the way hours change things. Near the start of October, on a whim, I decided to photograph the view in a series, spanning time. Over the course of a few days I fell in love with a particular leaf that danced at the farthest tip of a branch directly across from my window. It was broad and healthy and green and loved the wind. Last Sunday I blinked and it had turned bold yellow. This morning I blinked and it was burnt orange , and now the last one on its branch. I snapped its picture, then dashed off to run the day’s errands. And when I returned, it was gone.
Isn’t it interesting, I said to myself, how the end of even a maple leaf’s dance can leave such a void in your heart.
Come walk this autumn path with me. Come gather its color and breathe its perfume before it fades away. Such magic is rare; it cannot hold. It lasts for only one day and then it’s gone. Come, walk with me. Come watch the last golden leaf-coins fall across our path. Tuck the smooth, red leather of the oak into your pocket to spend on dreams. Listen to the secrets whispered on the wind as it carries these bright bits of the season away. Come walk with me and gather this treasure for keeping in memory’s store.
Just in time for Halloween pumpkin-orange tulips popped up on the shelves of my grocer’s store. They seemed rather spooky to me, I admit, quite out of place and time. A trick of commerce, I scoffed. But then their beauty won me, coaxing me to change my view. It’s not a trick, but a treat, I decided. Tulips should get to play, too.
A few days back, fewer than I can count on my fingers, some of the maples still wore their circus colors, other trees still held their green. “Trick or treat” is the call of the season. Now the boughs are all but bare and the wind howls, ghostlike, hurling what’s left to the ground. That’s quite a trick. But be patient. The treat still lies ahead.
Back in 1971, a beloved comic strip character named Pogo uttered a statement about human nature that’s still repeated to this day.
On Earth Day of that year, the cartoon showed Pogo, who was an opossum, walking through a forest with his friend, Porkypine. Porkypine tells Pogo that the beauty of the primeval forest touches his heart. Pogo, who is walking somewhat gingerly on his tip-toes, replies, “It gets me in the toes!”
It’s the next panel of the cartoon that holds the famous line.
Porkypine and Pogo are resting at the base of a tree overlooking a meadow that’s become a vast junkyard, full of cans, broken bottles, rusting cars, papers, dead appliances, tires. Not a living thing can be seen. Porkypine agrees with Pogo saying, “It is hard walkin’ on this stuff.” Then comes Pogo’s famous line:
“Yep, son. We have met the enemy and he is us.”
The truth of that is certainly clear to us when we decide to clean up a bit of the junk that’s littering our own inner landscapes by ditching a habit that we no longer want in our lives. The part of ourselves that’s the enemy appears as a Temptation.
Temptation is a sneaky guy, wily as can be. But here are three tactics you can use to defeat him.
1. Blow Him Away
Temptation is an alert telling you to pay attention, that an arch enemy has entered the scene.
As soon as you notice it, imagine a mighty invisible shield falling between you and the temptation. This shield has the magical ability to stop time long enough for you to remember your intention to go in a different direction now.
As you create this mental scene, take a slow, full breath through your nose. Then sniff in a quick “topper” breath, to fill your lungs completely. Next, purse your lips and blow out vigorously as if you were trying to extinguish a whole bunch of candles on a cake. (Maybe it’s a birthday cake for a new, improved you!) Imagine the air blowing the temptation completely away.
If it’s a cantankerous temptation, you may have to blow a few times. But it will bring you calm and control.
2. Kill Him with Kindness
Know your enemy. Think about what tactics he uses to defeat you. You’ve fought this battle before and succumbed to temptation’s trickery. Remember that everything he tells you is a deceptive snare woven of illusions designed to draw you in. The goods he delivers bring temporary gains, but spell your defeat once the moment’s satisfaction has passed.
Catch him in the act, and calmly decline his offer. “I see what you’re doing there. No thanks.”
Being cordial to your enemy disarms him. And you can thank him because this habit he’s tempting you to continue probably served some purpose in the past. You don’t have to remember what it was. You just feel like moving on, that’s all.
He might continue his antics; he knows he’s won before. Get the best of him by smiling as you turn down his offer again. Actually smile. A big, contented smile. And keep on repeating “No thanks. I have other things to do.”
3. Call in the Reserves
Enlist a friend to remind you that you are a powerful being, capable of refusing anything that stands in the way of your being who you intend to be now. Tell your friend what you’re practicing leaving behind, and what you plan to do with the resources that leaving it opens up for you. Tell him that you could use his encouragement while you take your first steps down this new path.
Or make up an invisible warrior to stand at your side if you like, to reinforce you when temptation threatens. “You can do this” he says, grinning at you.
Remember, “What you practice you get good at.” That’s just the way it works.
So choose to practice being free to be the best that you can be. And keep on keeping on. Because the other side of what Pogo said is that we are also our own best friends.
Patiently they wait, holding their green while the beeches and sassafras open the show. They watch the maples and their neighbors paint the hills with their yellows, their burgundies, golds, and crimsons. Then the rain comes, washing all but shreds of color to the ground. And just when you think that autumn has spent her glory, you wake to find that the oaks have stepped onto the stage to dance the grand finale of autumn’s wondrous show.
Suddenly a high wind blew in from the west and I stood there, dizzy with delight, as the trees sent bushels of leaves tumbling on the rushing air and twirling all around me. It was grand. And the trees and I laughed.
