In Nature’s annual cycle, this is the time that trees let go of their old leaves. They expose their bare branches, moving into a space of stillness as they ready themselves for the newness to emerge.
In our garden, there is a plane and an oak tree. The plane tree has lost most of its leaves. The oak tree is still clinging onto its leaves – aided by honeydew produced by aphids that call the oak tree home. The honeydew glues the leaves to the branches making the letting go of the old leaves difficult. It needs the winter rains to wash away the stickiness so that the leaves can be released.
So it is with stories. Some stories can be released easily once you recognise them. Other stories are so tightly interwoven and entangled with your family that they are part of your identity. It may be a story told with pride. Or perhaps you are hardly aware that you are repeating the story. Some of these stories empower you. Others put up invisible borders that limit you.
Listen to yourself. Do you hear yourself repeating the same story? What is the story that is told in your family? And are you following that same story? Is it used as an excuse you tell yourself why you can’t act on what your heart desires?
My story last year was that I could not exercise because of a sprained ankle (and the renovations). It took me until March this year to let go of that excuse and get back to exercising. In hindsight, I do wonder how a sprained ankle stopped me from doing sit-ups or arm exercises. Yet that story stopped me.
Then there is the story of my tight chest and the unexplained sadness within. It was after sharing the story of my grandfather during the last Constellation Circle that I finally understood and acknowledged the source of that sadness. I was carrying the unexpressed sadness for my father and his family of his father’s untimely death. The time had come, at last, to let go of that sadness.
As you unbind from your old story may the release be gentle and profound. Make space for your new story to blossom.
