Savour
Our Autumn Soul Session
Hi I’m Debbie, a spiritual director, writer, host and mother based in Glasgow. I offer stories, ponderings and gentle invitations to share a moment with your soul.
Hello friends,
Well we’re nudging towards the end of October, my kids inform me that some of the trees are now naked. And yet, there are others still in the midst of stunning transformation. This past Sunday we gathered for an in person Soul Session in Glasgow, and we all felt the benefit from taking that pause, so this letter is a gentle reminder to Savour this vivid season while she’s here. I’m interupting my micro-series to share some autumnal ponderings and gentle prompts.
“Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit.”
— Henry David Thoreau
This October has found me scurrying through the overcommitted sequence of my weeks. A flurry of birthdays, responsibilities and lovely opportunities have flown my way, leaving little breathing room. The schools were off for the October week, and although there were still things I had to do, being outside with my family and our dog has offered a gentle reset. The colours of the trees have nourished me. How do those yellow leaves glow, even on a dreich day? I feel their afterglow from the time we spent traipsing under and through the trees.
I wonder what favourite autumn memories come to mind for you?
At Sunday’s soul session we shared favourite childhood memories of crisp crunchy leaves, nourishing foods to coorie in with and the communal celebrations found in these months.
A favourite memory from last week was walking by the burn in Tollcross Park. It didn’t seem that windy, but the leaves showered from the trees onto my kids’ raised hands. They grabbed at the leaves, like contestants on the crystal maze grabbing for cash (note to self: introduce children to the crystal maze.) The muddiest nook of the park was magically transformed for us that morning.
October is the treasurer of the year,
And all the months pay bounty to her store;
The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,
And fill her brimming coffers more and more.
Some Prompts…
I invite you to take a moment and check in with yourself in this present moment, to reflect back a little and to look ahead. As always, take the questions that resonate with you, and don’t feel like you have to work through them all. Maybe give yourself time to journal with a hot drink and a candle. Don’t overthink it, just let the words flow, you might be surprised.
At this moment:
How are you? Physically, emotionally, spiritually? How does life feel?
What are you savouring about October? Perhaps make a list of the things you love about Autumn.
Looking back to gather the harvest:
What fruit do you notice in your life from past choices?
What is ready for harvesting in your life?
Looking ahead:
What do you want to preserve from this past season to nourish you in the cold months?
What do you need as you look ahead to the next few months?
On Sunday’s Soul Session we chatted about how fleeting the glory of this season is. We want to soak up the beauty and the changes as they happen, our conversation turned towards gratitude and the challenge to delight in simple wonders.
May we heed Autumn’s reminder to be present to our lives as they are right now and to savour her bright gifts and joys as we live through the darknesses in our days.
Thanks for reading, continue on below for a couple of Substack recommendations.
With love,
Debbie
Substack Joys
“If the wisdom of the seasons lies in the lessons they have to teach us, the kindness of the seasons lies in their annual repetition of those lessons.”
- Jen Goodyer
If you want to Savour your way through the seasons in more depth, I am loving Jen Goodyer’s new Soulmanac series “a soulful, scrappy journey through the seasons” for paid subscribers (£25 for the year). Jen is a friend and fellow Spiritual Director who writes with authenticity, beauty and humour.
I got to attend Lindsay Johnstone’s Seasonal Journalling Session last week. I borrowed from her thoughts about harvesting from the warmer season to preserve for the colder months ahead, which is a delightful way to consider this turning point in the year.
Lindsay is also Glasgow based and writes about mental and physical health in midlife, the reality of living with a caring responsibility and our reading and writing lives. In her Membership community she also has an engaging memoir ‘Held in Mind’ that she’s shared in audio excerpts over the past year “about intergenerational trauma, caring, motherhood and the nuanced interplay between nature and our mental health”. I’m about half way through listening and have appreciated her vulnerable account of her own story, woven powerfully through with the letters and memories of previous generations.
