Amazing to find someone else who has Summer SADS. Everyone always just thinks I'm crazy, but they didn't write Summertime Blues for nothing. So loving autumn and the time to slow down and reflect. Thanks for a wonderful post.
Love this from beginning to end, Chris -- especially " For now though I intend to revel in the gifts of beauty the universe continues to bestow on us every day." Amen. (I'm a Pollyanna of winter, too. I love the dark, cold months and look forward to them every year.)
Suffering a bout of anxiety once, unable to sleep, I go up and was intending to read in another room. As soon as I turned on a light, the darkness, the very thing that I had thought was causing my distress, became *darker*. In creating artificial light, I had repelled the fragments, the slivers, the rays of the night's offerings. Learning to sit and embrace it was calming. Thanks for another lovely piece.
"We are all holding hands and climbing." I love how often I'm encountering a similar message, in different words, rippling out and overlapping, these last few years. They've been a hell of a few years, no? -- and one good thing to come of them is how many of us are really starting to figure this mutuality thing out. A friend of mine, a Lutheran pastor, likes to quote the version attributed to Ram Dass: "We are all just walking each other home." I don't know that I have anything at all figured out, but I do appreciate the opportunity to send some direct help to a friend of a friend.
Sep 26, 2022·edited Sep 26, 2022Liked by Chris La Tray
Hafiz knew mutual aid before it was hip! So beautiful. May we all remember the true strength that care for one another can gift us. Thank you for looking out for your friend AND for letting the rest of us help do the same 🧡
And here's a little cheer for the dark, cold months and those of us who love them.
(Edited to add that as I was reading this, my playlist started a song called "Sweet Apocalypse," and the feel of it was very fitting for the mood here.)
i also am grateful for your sharing of support for your friend and the need and uplift of mutual aid--sending her good healing thoughts and donated. And i feel so seen by all these great autumn winter people! thank you for that too!
Omg, a wasp UP YOUR NOSE?!? Whew. No no no. I am with you on fall, I feel like the year finally starts at Labor Day. Summer is the season of too hot and too many people and I prefer the rest. Fall is always the best weather, and of course it's the best time to travel almost everywhere in the US but it's also the best time to be here so you know. I love that time in the morning when I first get up. I rarely turn on lights in my house - there's enough light from the little lights that tell me such and such is still plugged in and operating anyway, even with blackout curtains. I love looking out at the stars. From my bedroom window I can see the milky way if I'm really really lucky but usually just some stars that remind me where it is. I love the time before sunrise, I can't wait to be back out in that again.
And you are correct, we are all holding hands and climbing.
On a day where the future portends sadness and loss for my family, your article was uplifting and reminded me we are one. I feel the hands holding mine on this climb. Thank you.
I live in a place where the seasons are still quite distinct (for now anyway). There seems to be a particular energy, an electricity in the air as Fall winds us down toward Wintering. Maybe created out of the friction of Summer’s green abundance grinding slowly dormant? I love it.
I made a small donation to Ando. Thanks for sharing.
This is so beautiful, Chris. It’s the start of the Jewish New Year, and in some ways it feels so off-beat -- the start of the year when everything is dying? -- but in other ways, yes, exactly this, we start anew when we don’t need to squint any more, we can open our eyes & reflect. (Also, donated -- I’ll send you an email.)
If you ever make tshirts they should say, "I thrive in gloom." I'd buy one.
prayers up for ando
Amazing to find someone else who has Summer SADS. Everyone always just thinks I'm crazy, but they didn't write Summertime Blues for nothing. So loving autumn and the time to slow down and reflect. Thanks for a wonderful post.
Love this from beginning to end, Chris -- especially " For now though I intend to revel in the gifts of beauty the universe continues to bestow on us every day." Amen. (I'm a Pollyanna of winter, too. I love the dark, cold months and look forward to them every year.)
Suffering a bout of anxiety once, unable to sleep, I go up and was intending to read in another room. As soon as I turned on a light, the darkness, the very thing that I had thought was causing my distress, became *darker*. In creating artificial light, I had repelled the fragments, the slivers, the rays of the night's offerings. Learning to sit and embrace it was calming. Thanks for another lovely piece.
"We are all holding hands and climbing." I love how often I'm encountering a similar message, in different words, rippling out and overlapping, these last few years. They've been a hell of a few years, no? -- and one good thing to come of them is how many of us are really starting to figure this mutuality thing out. A friend of mine, a Lutheran pastor, likes to quote the version attributed to Ram Dass: "We are all just walking each other home." I don't know that I have anything at all figured out, but I do appreciate the opportunity to send some direct help to a friend of a friend.
Hafiz knew mutual aid before it was hip! So beautiful. May we all remember the true strength that care for one another can gift us. Thank you for looking out for your friend AND for letting the rest of us help do the same 🧡
And here's a little cheer for the dark, cold months and those of us who love them.
(Edited to add that as I was reading this, my playlist started a song called "Sweet Apocalypse," and the feel of it was very fitting for the mood here.)
i also am grateful for your sharing of support for your friend and the need and uplift of mutual aid--sending her good healing thoughts and donated. And i feel so seen by all these great autumn winter people! thank you for that too!
Donation made! Mutual aid forever. ❤️
And cheers to the darker days. Glad I'm not the only one who finds unrelenting sun a challenge.
Omg, a wasp UP YOUR NOSE?!? Whew. No no no. I am with you on fall, I feel like the year finally starts at Labor Day. Summer is the season of too hot and too many people and I prefer the rest. Fall is always the best weather, and of course it's the best time to travel almost everywhere in the US but it's also the best time to be here so you know. I love that time in the morning when I first get up. I rarely turn on lights in my house - there's enough light from the little lights that tell me such and such is still plugged in and operating anyway, even with blackout curtains. I love looking out at the stars. From my bedroom window I can see the milky way if I'm really really lucky but usually just some stars that remind me where it is. I love the time before sunrise, I can't wait to be back out in that again.
And you are correct, we are all holding hands and climbing.
On a day where the future portends sadness and loss for my family, your article was uplifting and reminded me we are one. I feel the hands holding mine on this climb. Thank you.
aw thank you friend so much--i love all of this. especially the bloodthirsty dogs... yours in autumn-winter solidarity.
Lovely piece of writing. I need fall; the heat is so difficult to enjoy. Cooler weather makes me so relieved, and autumnal fragrance is energizing.
I too am a Pollyanna of Winter!
Loving this autumn equinox for us!
I live in a place where the seasons are still quite distinct (for now anyway). There seems to be a particular energy, an electricity in the air as Fall winds us down toward Wintering. Maybe created out of the friction of Summer’s green abundance grinding slowly dormant? I love it.
I made a small donation to Ando. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Chris, your writing always makes me feel something. Joy, hope, anger, sadness, etc. and usually all in one article.
This is so beautiful, Chris. It’s the start of the Jewish New Year, and in some ways it feels so off-beat -- the start of the year when everything is dying? -- but in other ways, yes, exactly this, we start anew when we don’t need to squint any more, we can open our eyes & reflect. (Also, donated -- I’ll send you an email.)