If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you may be noticing that Autumn has come early. Except it hasn’t. What we’re seeing with the premature turning and loss of leaves is what is called, “False Autumn. I am told it is the trees and plants manifesting a stress response to the unusually fierce conditions we’ve been facing (I speak for the UK, though I suspect this is true in many other nations.) As the rains begin again, we are likely to see “Second Spring” with a burst of new growth before the official and astronomical start of “True Autumn.”

The UK, in alignment with many other countries, is facing ‘interesting’ times where it will be tempting to model the way the trees conserve resources. It will be logical to tighten our belts and to cut our spending and to live frugally – to drop our leaves. But some of the trees have another message for us. Take those Oak trees that are well established and have space to grow to their full potential. Most of these have remained very green even through the driest periods of this glorious Summer.

Oak trees have leaves well adapted to conserving water, but their deepest secret lies beneath the visible surface. The secret is in their deep roots. Their roots go down to where refreshment still exists even in times of drought.

When you read this, we will just have had the New Moon. The New Moon is a time of renewal and hope. Let’s take this as all the excuse we need to look to the future with hope and positive expectation, and to examine or re-examine our roots. Our roots are those whom we are connected to – like our friends here at Moodscope, and our family in the world, our neighbours, and our communities. Our roots are what we truly believe in, and deeply value. Our roots are what refresh and nourish us.

If we were to focus on our outside circumstances we would become distracted from the truth. The truth is that good fruits come from good roots. The roots are where we would do best to focus our energy and attention. Let’s strengthen some relationships this week. Let’s re-examine what’s important to us… deep, deep down. And let’s stay true to ourselves.

I wish you a fruitful week in which False Autumn may yet become a sign of hope.

Lex

A Moodscope member.