The Season Ahead

Although we still have some remnants of summer like weather, I do notice that time is changing and the early morning crispness is announcing a new season ahead.  Fall is my favorite time of year because it has the best of both worlds for me.  You get cool evenings and mornings along with a dose of midday sun.  One of the best parts of the changing seasons is that it reminds me about the things that I might want to change as well.  I use this period as a time of reflection, because with new weather I believe that the opportunity exists for new thoughts, which can then transcend into new habits.  While changing your thinking and incorporating other alterations to go with it is work, nothing can remind us more about that when we take the time to reflect about a new period of the year.  Our plans can change from one minute to the next depending on our circumstances, however, it is the consistency of our thinking that will provide us with the true direction of where we want to go.  Similar to the changing color of the leaves that signal it is time to look for a new seasonal chapter, we can choose to do the same thing.  Perhaps you have been thinking for some time about a to-do list of things you want to accomplish.  If time has gotten away from you because of the busy day-to-day life schedules, then give yourself the opportunity to put yourself back at the top of the priorities list.  I know too well how we can all shift away from putting ourselves first and with that, we are relegated to an afterthought among the many pressing life priorities.  Sometimes we feel guilty about being on the top of our own list, yet, we cannot achieve much without our ability to put ourselves in a position that can enable better thinking along with better decisions about  our own life.  We get some reminders at times that make us re-evaluate some of our prior decisions with residual consequences.  Recently for me I have had some issues with a knee that has curtailed some of my physical capabilities and I was quickly reminded about how important my own health is.  It triggered my ability to go to my own priority list and make a concerted effort to address this issue.  This became an opportunity moment for me about how having good health is a foundation for everything that we want to do with our lives.  I have been re-evaluating my own inventory of where I am and where I need to go from here.  Ideally, we should be good planners for all things that make up our livelihood.   Whether it is health, family, finances or other key items that are part of our circle of stability, we must pay close attention to all of those important things.  It is easy to forget about how important one's foundation is when things are going well and it is not until one hits a bump in the road that can cause one to go back to re-evaluation mode.  As I continue to marvel outside at the changing scenery with the welcoming Fall changes, I am very much aware about my own to-do list that needs some fine tuning.  My hope for the coming season is that everyone gets to prioritize their own list that they have been contemplating and that everyone utilizes the changing scenery around them to be a catalyst for the new top priorities after thoughtful reflection.