The leaves have been changing color the past few weeks. Actually, probably a bit longer than that. How you see it depends on your perception.
It may seem like they haven’t been changing much. Or, it may seem like WHAMMO, suddenly green has become brown and leaves crumble, drop and blow away.
How we perceive this change during the fall season struck me recently because of the leaves going from green to yellow, red and orange. One day it seemed like nothing was going on. Then, suddenly the leaves fell off the branches. There was no in-between (or so it seemed).
I pride myself on paying attention to the seasons, knowing when frigid winds will hit, when the last snow will fall in late April, how long I can golf into early December. There are barometers that stand out and give you a strong sense of what to expect next when it comes to temperature, winds and precipitation.
Leaves changing colors is one of those barometers. It’s why it appeared strange to me watching for the transformation, and having this sense that nothing was happening.
Perhaps that is all in my head. It could be the leaves changed more slowly this year due to weather patterns, and lack of moisture the past few months. I’m no expert.
I felt like I was watching closely, and in retrospect, I think that was my problem. When you want something, expect something to happen, it seems to take much longer for it to actually occur. Like waiting for Christmas. You can’t wait, then suddenly it’s Christmas morning and all those presents under the tree.
Maybe that’s how my perception of this fall was colored. I kept waiting and waiting for the visually stunning mixture, the kaleidoscope of leaves, to hit. When it didn’t seem to take a logical progression, I probably averted my eyes and attention span for 3, 7, 11 days.
You can’t do that. Because the shift is gradual, you miss the nuance. Every day something is subtly different. You must pay close attention to see it.
It’s a good life lesson – paying attention. That’s where you see and learn. Get complacent and stuff flies by.
You can easily grow bored of day-to-day humdrum – waiting for leaves to change. Kind of like watching the pot closely to see when it boils. If you look into the water, you start to see tiny bubbles, then they float upward, then finally they get bigger and burst the surface to let you know it’s time to put the noodles in.
If you keep looking at the pot though, it seems like this takes forever. You avert your eyes and go make a salad, and when you come back, the water is boiling away.
We miss things when we step away like that. Cooking intervention. Leaf-watching intervention. Life intervention.
Step away and you miss something. We can’t always be right on top of things at all moments.
For the leaf-changing season though, you’ll miss it if you take a few days here or there to look away and get too focused on getting through the day.
Keep your eyes open. Breathe deeply. Look closely. Enjoy the change.
It may seem like they haven’t been changing much. Or, it may seem like WHAMMO, suddenly green has become brown and leaves crumble, drop and blow away.
How we perceive this change during the fall season struck me recently because of the leaves going from green to yellow, red and orange. One day it seemed like nothing was going on. Then, suddenly the leaves fell off the branches. There was no in-between (or so it seemed).
I pride myself on paying attention to the seasons, knowing when frigid winds will hit, when the last snow will fall in late April, how long I can golf into early December. There are barometers that stand out and give you a strong sense of what to expect next when it comes to temperature, winds and precipitation.
Leaves changing colors is one of those barometers. It’s why it appeared strange to me watching for the transformation, and having this sense that nothing was happening.
Perhaps that is all in my head. It could be the leaves changed more slowly this year due to weather patterns, and lack of moisture the past few months. I’m no expert.
I felt like I was watching closely, and in retrospect, I think that was my problem. When you want something, expect something to happen, it seems to take much longer for it to actually occur. Like waiting for Christmas. You can’t wait, then suddenly it’s Christmas morning and all those presents under the tree.
Maybe that’s how my perception of this fall was colored. I kept waiting and waiting for the visually stunning mixture, the kaleidoscope of leaves, to hit. When it didn’t seem to take a logical progression, I probably averted my eyes and attention span for 3, 7, 11 days.
You can’t do that. Because the shift is gradual, you miss the nuance. Every day something is subtly different. You must pay close attention to see it.
It’s a good life lesson – paying attention. That’s where you see and learn. Get complacent and stuff flies by.
You can easily grow bored of day-to-day humdrum – waiting for leaves to change. Kind of like watching the pot closely to see when it boils. If you look into the water, you start to see tiny bubbles, then they float upward, then finally they get bigger and burst the surface to let you know it’s time to put the noodles in.
If you keep looking at the pot though, it seems like this takes forever. You avert your eyes and go make a salad, and when you come back, the water is boiling away.
We miss things when we step away like that. Cooking intervention. Leaf-watching intervention. Life intervention.
Step away and you miss something. We can’t always be right on top of things at all moments.
For the leaf-changing season though, you’ll miss it if you take a few days here or there to look away and get too focused on getting through the day.
Keep your eyes open. Breathe deeply. Look closely. Enjoy the change.